


Finding Neverland

by RainingCoffee



Series: Peter Pan has nothing on this [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Culture, F/F, F/M, Telepathic Bond, different than your normal oc, hopefully, rating might change later, this is a jumping around the doctors timeline story, timeline time travel, will add more doctors as they enter the story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-02-09 12:09:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 209,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12887577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainingCoffee/pseuds/RainingCoffee
Summary: Mabel was fairly certain she had done nothing to deserve this. All she wanted to do was figure out how she got to the hospital, and to possibly stop running about everywhere. She keeps pulling her stitches and it's really starting to hurt.





	1. How it all started (Smith and Jones)

**Author's Note:**

> I love this type of story, but it's getting increasing hard to find a good one that I haven't already read. Solution, write one of my own. 
> 
> All of the recognizable characters belong to the BBC. Everyone else probably belongs to me. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> PS. I'm tired of looking over this chapter, if there are any typos please let me know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> General Disclaimer: All recognizable Doctor Who characters do not belong to me. 
> 
> *Chapter edited Jan 24th 2018.*
> 
> I am going to be slowly going through and editing all these chapters.

The day was not going how I wanted it to be going, and I was starting to get fed up. Between oversleeping, lack of breakfast, and annoying professors, I was ready to catch the bus and go home. 

“But of course I can’t do that yet,“ I grumble, glaring down at my phone. “I’m sick of the buses never coming when they say they are.” Public transportation really was the worst sometimes, helpful for getting around, but annoying to have to wait on. It really didn’t help that I was crabby from not eating breakfast.

I drew in a deep breath, releasing it slowly. Calming down was probably a good idea. I didn’t want to accidentally snap at someone else just because my day was turning out to be crappy.

Rocking back and forth on my heels, I try to distract myself from the wait. Just as I had pretty much resigned myself to another 20 minutes, I feel someone’s hand shove me in the back. The momentum forced me forward and into the street. 

“Oh god,” I cry out, wildly spinning around and trying to step back onto the sidewalk. Unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough and a car comes around the corner, colliding with my side. I went flying, but I somehow made eye contact with the person standing on the sidewalk where I had previously been. The last thing I saw before my head hit the ground and everything went dark was a pair of piercing blue eyes. 

~

I slowly drifted to consciousness. There were muffled voices coming from around me, but I couldn’t find the energy to open my eyes. The last thing I could remember was…going to class? Maybe I had drifted off in one of my lectures? It was all fuzzy, and I couldn’t bring myself to continue thinking about it as the effort caused a bolt of pain to drill into my head. The pain distracted me, but nothing could distract me from the room shaking, or from whatever was under me suddenly tipping over and dropping me to the floor. 

My eyes shot open and I whimpered as pain radiated from what felt like everywhere on my body. The room blurred into semi focus, and I could make out what looked like a blue curtain. I slowly try to move my arm but end up hissing in pain as something tugged back. Looking down to find the reason, I see an iv attached to my hand. Was I in a hospital? My head shot up, but I immediately regret it as the world spins.

I didn’t understand, why was I in the hospital? This time I slowly raised my head and used the arm not encumbered by the iv to lift myself into a sitting position. I look down at myself, noting the white cloth gown that I was currently clothed in. Definitely hospital then. “Damn.”

Raised voices from outside the curtain draw me from my self inspection. “What the hell?” A man exclaims. 

“How is this possible?” A woman’s voice rises in panic. “How can we be on the moon?”

The moon? What do you mean the moon? I squint at the curtain in disbelief. Instead of the laughter I expect to hear, people start to scream instead. Alarmed, I attempt to get my feet under me and stand up. Besides a feeling of weakness, my legs decide to hold my weight. Good sign. I quickly remove the iv from my hand and after making sure I was decent, pull the curtain back.

Pandemonium greets me. People are running back and forth in hysterics. Many are staring at the windows with horror. I, on the other hand, stare at the window in disbelief. The earth was visible in the backdrop of space. A man rushs past me, breaking my line of sight, but also smacking my shoulder with his. I hiss in pain as something near my stomach seems to pull. That, I thought to myself, is probably bad. 

Before I could try to finagle my gown open to see what was happening on my stomach, two women with white lab coats on rush into the room. “All right now, everyone back to bed, we’ve got an emergency but we’ll sort it out. Don’t worry.” One woman says to us, as they both go up to the window. “It’s real. It’s really real. Hold on.” The same woman continues as she reaches to open the window. 

“Don’t!” The other woman panics. “We’ll lose all the air,” she continues shakily, reaching over to grab the first woman’s hand. 

“But they’re not exactly air tight,” the first woman responds. “If the air was going to get sucked out it would have happened straight away, but it didn’t. So how come?”

The noise of a curtain being pulled open comes from behind me, and I turn to look. “Very good point.” A man dressed in a blue suit responds,voice calm. “Brilliant, in fact. What was your name?” 

“Martha” The woman, now deemed Martha, responds. Well at least I can refer to her as something other than the woman now. It was starting to get confusing to switch between the two of them.

“And it was Jones, wasn’t it?” The man states more than asks. “Wait a mo, hold that thought,” he continues as she opens her mouth to respond. “You!” The man suddenly points a finger at me. All big hair and manic energy. “What have you done to your hair, and why are you wearing that?” 

“We’ve somehow traveled to the moon, and you're wondering why I have a hospital gown on while I’m in a hospital?” I ask, incredulous. 

“Weeell,” the man draws out, “I suppose that was a silly question.” He winks at me, and then turns back to Martha. “Well then, Martha Jones, the question is, how are we still breathing?” 

“We can’t be,” the still unnamed nurse insists. 

“Obviously we are, so don’t waste my time. Martha, what have we got? Is there a balcony on this floor, or a veranda, or,” the man rambles.

“By the patient’s lounge, yeah,” Martha cuts in. 

Waggling his eyebrows, the man directs his attention back to Martha. “Fancy going out?” 

Martha looks at him for a long second. “Okay.” 

“We might die,” he reminds her, like it was something she could have forgotten. 

“We might not,” Martha insists back. 

“Good,” the man responds, starting to smile. He looks over at me with the same smile on his face, almost like he was inviting me in on a joke or something. “C’mon.” The man says to me, grabbing my hand and tugging. He pauses, gesturing with his chin to the unnamed nurse, “Not her, she’d hold us up.” 

“Hey!” I protest. Both to the hand grabbing and pulling as well as the rudeness to the poor unnamed nurse. “It’s perfectly understandable that’s she’s scared, she just got transported to the moon in the middle of her shift. You can’t just spring that on people, you have to give some warning at least.” I try to lighten the mood with some humor. I'm not entirely sure how well it worked though. The pace the man set with his long legs was starting to seriously hurt and that was reflected in my voice. 

“Are you okay?” He asks me with a slight frown, the hand not holding mine coming up to feel my forehead. “You are kind of warm,” he murmurs thoughtfully, “And you never told me why you are wearing this.” He removes his hand from my forehead to lightly tug on my cloth gown.

I frown up at him. “I’m assuming I’m at the hospital for the same reason any other person would be in one. Though I’m a little fuzzy on the details of how I actually ended up here.” Looking down at our linked hands, I tug lightly, trying to get mine back. “I’m also a little confused as to why you are holding my hand.” 

The mans brow furrows. “You mean this isn’t just a disguise?” 

“Disguise?” I ask incredulously, before shaking my head and deciding it doesn't matter. I make an effort to pull my hand from his, and this time he lets me pull back. “And you never answered me, what’s with the hand holding?”

He continues to frown down at me, then glances up to see Martha looking impatient next to a set of balcony doors. “Never enough time,” he mumbles, so softly I couldn’t be sure I actually heard him right. By the time he turns back to me, he has a smile on his face. The manic energy that I had seen in this man earlier was back. “Mabel Falkov, there is a hospital on the moon, concentrate on that instead on asking personal questions!” He then proceeds to flounce down the hallway towards Martha. 

The color drains from my face as I watch him leave. I have a rather horrible feeling that the man now striding out of the balcony doors somehow had something to do with how I got here in the first place. The urge to run was strong, but probably not a good idea. Where could I run to? The hospital was on the moon, I don’t think I would get very far. 

Swallowing, I attempt to moisten my dry throat. He wasn’t panicking, and he seemed to know something about what happened to the hospital. Unfortunately, my best bet would probably be to stick around the man. I would just have to be careful and watch him closely. 

Heading down the hallway towards the veranda myself, I notice a white robe haphazardly draped over a chair. Shrugging, I pull on the robe and tie it around me. I might as well cover up the cloth gown. We all know the coverage can be spotty in the back and I have no desire to accidentally flash anyone. 

As I draw closer to balcony doors I catch the tail end of Martha saying something to the man.“-you, Mister Smith, we will find a way out. If we can travel to the moon, then we can travel back. There’s got to be a way.” 

The man glances at me as I pause an arm’s length from both of them. “It’s not Smith. That’s not my real name.”

Martha’s brow creases in confusion. “Who are you, then?”

“I’m the Doctor.” Not Smith says to her. 

Martha doesn’t miss a beat. “Me too, if I can pass my exams. What is it then, Doctor Smith?”

“No,” Not Smith says again, “Just the Doctor.”

Martha looks over at ‘the doctor’ in confusion. “How do you mean, just the Doctor?”

“Just the Doctor,” he continues to assert.

“The Doctor?” I look at him and scoff. “You can’t just be called the Doctor, Doctor who?” He gapes at me for a second, but then the brightest smile I have seen comes onto his face, and he points a finger at me again.

“You!” he exclaims, “Oh, I asked you if you ever asked me that before and you told me no! Such a liar.” His hands come up to cover his mouth and he giggles a funny high pitched giggle. 

“Was that sentence supposed to make sense?” I demand in frustration. Seriously, how could he have asked me that question if I had never met him before. 

“Well, I’m not,” Martha interjects. “As far as I’m concerned, you’ve got to earn that title.”

The ‘Doctor’ stares at her for a second and then reaches down to pick a rock off the floor. “Well, I’d better make a start then. Let’s have a look. There must be some sort of,” then he proceeds to throw the rock out away from the hospital into the air. The rock hits something and blue energy arcs from the point of impact momentarily. “Force field,” he finishes, voice serious. “Keeping the air in.”

I can feel the blood drain from my face for the second time that day. “Force field that keeps the air in, but we are supposedly on the moon which doesn’t have its own atmosphere. Nothing to provide us with new oxygen.” I look over at the Doctor in dread. “How many people are in the hospital?” 

He nods at me, and then looks over to Martha. “Martha, how many people in this hospital?”

Martha shakes her head. “I don’t know. A thousand?”

The Doctor clenches his teeth. “One thousand people,” he tells us. “Suffocating.”

“Why would anyone do that?” Martha asks in indignation. A noise coming from the sky interrupts the Doctor while he's opening his mouth to respond. We all turn our heads to follow the noise. 

“Head’s up!” The Doctor says. “Ask them yourself.” As real goddamn spaceships start to descend from space to the moon. 

I feel dizzy and then the next thing I know I’m far closer to the ground then I remember being. 

“Hey now, what’s all this for?” The Doctor asks me in confusion. He seems to have caught me before I could hit the ground. 

Oh, I think to myself. My legs must have given out. “Oh nothing, I would just really like to wake up now.” My voice sounds like it is coming from the end of a tin can, all high pitched and grainy. In the background I can hear Martha exclaiming about aliens.

“Mabel,” the Doctor says severely, giving me a small shake. “This isn’t a dream. This is really the moon, and those are really alien spaceships.” He leans his head closer to mine and with a glance towards Martha lowers his voice to a whisper. “I know this is confusing, and I’m sorry, but I don’t have the time to explain right now so you are going to have to trust me.” He finishes with a frustrated look in the direction of the spaceships. 

“How can I trust you,” I whisper back to him. “I’ve woken up in a hospital that I have no memory of ever coming to, been transported to the moon, and there are alien spaceships coming from the sky. All while I follow a man around who mysteriously knows my full name.” I swallow heavily and acknowledge what I’ve been trying to ignore this whole time. “I didn’t want to jump to conclusions earlier.” I look up at the Doctor and feel my eyes start to sting as tears try to rise up. “One person doing it is a coincidence, but everyone here is speaking with a British accent. I’m not even in the United States anymore am I?” 

The Doctor looks at me with a blank face for a moment before he shakes his head. It feels like my stomach drops to my feet and I close my eyes as my pulse starts to race. I feel his arms move from bracing me, to enclosing me in a hug. “You aren’t going to answer any of my questions right now, are you?” 

He releases me from the hug and helps me to my feet. “I’m sorry, so sorry, there’s no time.” The Doctor lets go of my arms and looks over to Martha, “Judoon. That’s what they are called.” 

Fine, I think to myself. I can feel my hands clench into fists at my side. My fear and confusion are turning to anger. “Judoon?” I ask through clenched teeth. I can see the Doctor wince slightly. 

“Yeah,” the Doctor says. “They’re like police. Well, police for hire. They’re more like interplanetary thugs.” He continues as we all move farther into the hospital. Ducking down behind a mezzanine railing and watching from above as the Judoon seem to be shoving lights in peoples faces. 

“And they brought us to the moon?” Martha asks in confusion. 

“Neutral territory. According to galactic law, they’ve got no jurisdiction over the Earth, and they isolated it. That rain, lightning? That was them using an H2O scoop.” He answers her. Honestly most of the things that come out of this man’s mouth are gibberish.

“What are you on about, galactic law? Where’d you get that from?” Martha asks the Doctor, incredulous. “If they’re police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?” 

“No, but I like that.” The Doctor smiles over at her. “Good thinking! No I wish it were that simple. They’re making a catalog.” He looks over at me with a worried frown on his face. “That means they’re after something non-human, which is very bad news.” 

Martha laughs. “Why?” He just stares at her. “Oh, you’re kidding me. Don’t be ridiculous!” He just raises an eyebrow. “Stop looking at me like that.” Martha insists. 

“I don’t know why you are surprised Martha.” I think it is the first time I’ve spoken to her directly. “He obviously knows more about this situation than anyone here. It’s probably a good assumption to make that he’s had experience with aliens before, and not a huge jump to assume that he is an alien himself.” 

The Doctor just shakes his head and frowns. “Come on then!” Is all he says to us as he hurries us away from the mezzanine and further into the hospital to avoid the Judoon. He leads us up the stairs and through several different hallways. I can feel my stomach protesting, and my breathing grows ragged as I try to keep up with their pace. We finally stop in some sort of office and I gratefully let myself slump against the wall as I clutch at my torso. The Doctor sits down in front of a computer, and Martha jogs back the way we came and disappears around the corner.

The doctor pulls out a thin tube from his pocket and starts ‘using’ it on a computer. And by using it I mean the tip lights up and makes a silly sound as he waves it over the monitor. I just sigh. 

Martha comes hurrying back around the corner. “They’ve reached the third floor. What’s that thing?” She nods to the thin tube that’s still buzzing. 

“Sonic screwdriver,” he answers in a distracted manner. 

Martha scoffs. “Well if you’re not going to answer me properly.”

The Doctor looks up in surprise. “No, really, it is. It’s a screwdriver, and it’s sonic. Look” He gestures the screwdriver towards her. 

Martha’s face twists in disbelief. “What else have you got, a laser spanner?” 

“I did, but It was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman.” His face screws up in frustration as he smacks the monitor. “What’s wrong with this computer! Oh, the Judoon must have locked it down.” He takes a deep breath. “Judoon platoon upon the moon.” The Doctor shakes his head and his tone turns conversational. “Cause I was just traveling past. I swear, I was just wandering. I wasn’t looking for trouble, honestly, I wasn’t, but I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital, and that lightning, that’s a plasma coil. Been building up for two days now, so I checked in. I thought something was going on inside. It turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above.”

“But what are they looking for?” Martha asks.

“Something that looks human, but isn’t,” the Doctor responds. 

Martha frowns. “Whatever it is, can’t you just leave the Judoon to find it?” 

The Doctor shakes his head. “If they declare the hospital guilty of harboring a fugitive, they’ll sentence it to extinction.” Great.

“All of us?” Martha asks in disbelief. 

“Oh yes. If I can find this thing first.” His face suddenly lights up with comprehension. “Oh! You see, they’re thick! Judoon are thick! They are completely thick! They wiped the records. Oh, that’s clever.”

Martha ignores him. “What are we looking for?”

“I don’t know.” The Doctor admits. “Say any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there’s a back-up?” He finishes, looking back at the computer monitor. 

“Just keep working. I’ll go ask Mister Stoker. He might know.” Martha tells him, leaving the room. 

“What about you?” The Doctor asks, looking at me from the corner of his eye. “How are you holding up?”

“Peachy keen.” I respond sarcastically. 

“Hey I kno-“ He cuts himself off and focuses all his attention on the monitor. “There we go! Found the backup” He smirks in victory. The Doctor jumps to his feet and grabs my hand, pulling me into the hallway. “Let’s find Mart-“ He once again gets cut off as Martha proceeds to run into him.

“I’ve restored the back-up,” he says to her happily. 

“I’ve found her!” Martha exclaims back. 

The Doctors brow furrows. “You did what?”

Just then, a man wearing all leather and a motorcycle helmet breaks down a door at the other side of the hallway. 

“Run!” The Doctor insists loudly, as he pulls me and Martha in the opposite direction towards the stairs. The pull in my stomach turns into a sharp stinging sensation. Concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, I'm vaguely aware of going down stairs, and then of seeing the Judoon. Finally the Doctor pulls us into a room with what looks like an x-ray machine. 

The doctor pushes me and Martha behind a glass partition that has a desk with buttons on it. “When I say now, press the button!” He yells out. 

“Which button?” I grit out between my teeth at the same time Martha exclaims, “But I don’t know which one!”

“Then find out!” He yells back at us. 

Martha starts rummaging around frantically, but I just lean across the partition clutching my stomach. I pull the robe open a bit and wince at the blood I see seeping through the cloth gown. I look up and make eye contact with Martha, who has stopped her frantic motions and is now staring at me. Her brow furrows in concern and she starts to move towards me. 

“Now!” The Doctor yells, startling both of us. Martha and I share a look of dismay. We both look at the desk and slam our hands down on the largest button, hoping that it was the button that the Doctor had been talking about. 

There is a weird buzzing sound and the man in the motorcycle helmet twitches a bit before he falls to the ground. I take the opportunity to close my robe back up as Martha looks over at the Doctor. 

“What did you do?” Martha asks the Doctor breathlessly. 

“Increased the radiation by five thousand per cent. Killed him dead.” He responds. 

“But isn’t that going to kill you?” Martha looks at him in concern. 

“Nah, it's only roentgen radiation. We used to play with roentgen bricks in the nursery. It's safe for you to come out. I've absorbed it all. All I need to do is expel it.” The Doctor states, hopping up and down. “If I concentrate I can shake the radiation out of my body and into one spot. It's in my left shoe. Here we go, here we go. Easy does it. Out, out, out, out, out. Out, out. Ah, ah, ah, ah! It is, it is, it is, it is, it is hot. Hold on.” The doctor grabs his shoe and throws it in the trash can. “Done!” He exclaims.

“You’re completely mad.” Martha exclaims right back at him. 

The Doctor smiles at her, “You’re right. I look daft with one shoe.” He then proceeds to throw the other shoe in the trash as well. “Barefoot on the moon.” 

Martha just shakes her head in disbelief, then swivels around to look at me. “Hold on! You were bleeding!” She accuses me. The Doctors head swings over to me and he covers the distance between us in the space of a blink. 

“Yes,” I answer. “I’m pretty sure I pulled my stitches.” 

“Stitches!?” The Doctor repeats, hands reaching out and starting to pull my robe open. 

“Hey!” I squeak. “You can’t just take a girls robe off” He just ignores me and continues to pull the sides open, this time succeeding. I hear him inhale sharply as the blood comes into view. 

“I didn’t know you were in the hospital for an actual injury!” The Doctor exclaims in frustration, reaching out to touch my stomach. 

I slap his hand away. “Why else would I have been in the hospital?” His jaw jumps like he is clenching his teeth, which makes me angry in return. What right did he have to be mad when I was the one being dragged around the hospital? 

The Doctor whirls around and stalks over to the x-ray machine. He grabs his screwdriver and then pauses. I hear him heave a deep sigh, and watch as he proceeds to throw his screwdriver in the trash as well. “Totally fried.” 

The Doctor stalks back to me and gently grabs my arm. He starts to direct us to the hallway. “Mabel.” He starts, voice serious. “You have to start telling me when you're hurt.” 

I stop and try to jerk my arm from his grip, but he has a surprisingly strong hold of it. “I don’t see why I have to say anything at all to you. You still haven’t answered my questions from earlier.”

“This is important Mabel.” He asserts, completely ignoring my pointed hint. “Your health isn’t something I’m willing to compromise on.” 

Fury ignites, and I can feel my hands ball up into fists. It takes everything in me to not punch the Doctor in the face. “Look,” I say, as calmly as possible. “I’m tired, in pain, and pissed off. I just want to know what the hell is going on!” 

The Doctor just stares at me, but I hear Martha gasp and exclaim, “Oh my god.” I turn to her, still feeling the anger burning inside of me, ready to fight her too. “What the hell is that?” She turns and asks the Doctor. 

“She leaving.” He replies, still staring at me. I can feel my face flush as the burning sensation gets stronger so I point a finger at him.

“Don’t ign-“ I start to demand, but something interesting catches my eye. My arm. It was on fire. My whole arm. Covered in orange flames. I shriek and start to flail. Anger hadn’t made me feel like I was on fire, I was literally on fire!

Arms come around me and I start to struggle harder, ignoring the pain in my stomach. “No!” I plead. “I’m on fire, don’t touch me or you’ll burn too” 

“Hey.” The Doctors tries to sooth me. He manages to trap my arms to my chest with one of his arms, holding the other one out so I can see it. The flames travel along his skin for a second before disappearing like wisps of smoke. “See, they don’t hurt. Everything is okay. Calm down.” 

“I don’t understand,” I whisper, overwhelmed with everything that has happened.

“I know, and I’m sorry. So, so Sorry.” I can feel him leaning his head on top of mine and this time I don't bother pulling away. His touch is helping to ground me as the flames curl higher on my torso. 

I concentrate on breathing, in and out, in and out. Until the flames suddenly brighten and my vision whites out. I feel the Doctors arm disappear from his hold around me and stumble. Blinking rapidly as my vision starts to return to me, I look down at my body. No flames. That was a relief. Looking up to question the Doctor again, I freeze as I take in the room. The hallway I had been in had disappeared, as well as the Doctor and Martha, and I seemed to be in an entirely different place. 

I bite my lip harshly as tears rise to my eyes once again. This is insane. I have no idea what is going on. 

“Professor!” Comes a shout from a corridor off of the room I was in, startling me. A girl walks around the corner with a white patterned sweater on. “Have you seen my jacket?” She yells, before she notices me. “Mabel!” The girl cries out in happiness, coming forwards towards me with her arms outstretched. 

“Mabel?” A male voice asks from just around the corner. 

I pull back from the girl before she reaches me and bump into the strange console in the center of the room. I’m sure my eyes were wide in fright, not something that was going to help if this went bad, but I just didn’t have it in me to be angry anymore. 

The disembodied male voice suddenly has an owner as a strangely dressed man rounds the same corner that the girl had earlier. He's wearing a vest with question marks all over it. 

“Mabel!” The man beams at me. He too, walks across the room swiftly like he is going to give me a hug. I jerk around the console, putting it between me and the two people. The man comes to a stop, his brow furrowing in confusion. 

“Who are you?” I ask him, looking over to the girl as well. “Who are both of you?” 

The mans look of confusion turns to comprehension. His face falls into a serious look. “I’m the Doctor,” he offers. “And that’s Ace,” he gestures to the girl with his hand. 

“Try again,” I warn him. “I just met a man called the Doctor and you look nothing like him.”

His lips quirk up in a smile. “I assure you, I am also the Doctor.” 

I scowl at him. “So what? There’s two doctors now?” 

“No, No, No.” He exclaims. “The only Doctor is me.” He still has a funny little smile on his face, like he was enjoying a joke. Probably at my frustration. 

I scrub my hands over my face, wincing as I felt my stomach shift and pull at my stitches again. The man must have seen my wince because by the time I drop my hands back towards my sides, he was right in front of me. I jerk back before he can finish the motion of reaching for me. 

“Alright, Alright.” He murmurs to me, raising his hands up so I can see them. “No touching, see?”

I eye him warily. 

“I saw you wince.” He says to me. “Are you injured?”

I nod. 

“I am formally trained as a doctor, may I please look at the injury?” He asks, tone formal. 

I look into his eyes, coming to a quick decision. “Yes, It’s my stomach. I’m pretty sure I pulled my stitches”

He reaches forward and pulls the edges of the robe open. His brows pull together as my blood comes into view. The ‘Doctor’ looks up at me with a frown, and then nods as though he's come to a decision. His hand reaches up and touches my forehead. Then the only thing I knew was darkness.


	2. Answers of a sort

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some things get answered, some things don't.
> 
> *Edited Mar 22nd 2018. Fixed tense changes, smoothed the dialogue out.

Awareness slowly returns. I can feel my bed beneath me and I nuzzle down into the blankets, trying to deny my state of wakefulness. Unfortunately, I was awake and my body wasn’t going to let me forget it. 

As I lay there, the wisps of my dream came back to me. Vivid dreams were nothing new to me, but the one I had last night was a little more intense than I was used to. Jeeze, I thought to myself, first I get hit by a car and then I end up in a hospital that gets transported to the moon. No wonder I had been so confused in the dream. I really needed to stop browsing the alien tag on Pinterest before I go to sleep. 

Giving up on pretending to be asleep, I finally pry my eyes open. Only my room wasn’t the thing that came into focus. Instead of the cream walls and bookshelves I was expecting, I saw white walls and machines with flashing lights. The bed I was in wasn’t my bed. Sitting up abruptly, I try and contain my panic. 

I look down at myself, taking note of the fact that I was wearing a pair of plaid pajamas. My stomach clenches in dread and I swallow harshly. These weren’t my pajamas. I had not put these pajamas on. My eyes dart around the room, trying to figure out where I was and just what was going on. Unfortunately, the walls don't offer any answers. There is a small table next to the bed with a comfy looking chair next to that, a half full mug sitting on the table along with a book. Also, strangely, there is an umbrella leaning beside the chair. Before the ramifications of those things are able to set in, I hear what sounds like foots steps coming from outside the room. 

I panic. Throwing my legs over the bed, I jump down and grab the closest thing I might be able to use as a weapon, which happens to be the umbrella I noticed earlier. Frantically looking around for something to hide in, or behind, I come up short. Unfortunately, the decorator of the room hadn’t seemed to decorate with ease of hiding in mind. By now the door is opening, so I just dart around to the other side of the bed, putting it between me and the open door. 

A man walks in, but he doesn’t notice me at first. To be fair, I'm busy gaping at him in return. It was the man from my dream. The man with the question mark vest, who also called himself the Doctor. 

“But!” I exclaim. “You aren’t real. You were a dream.”

The man looks up, startled. “Mabel! It’s good to see you up and about.” He starts to move across the room towards me. 

I grip the umbrella and bring it up to point it at him. “Stop!” I manage to croak out. He stops. 

Looking at him over the bed, I try to even out my breathing. So many different thoughts are darting around my head all at once. I have no idea what to do. Fight, flight? But I do know one thing. I’m tired of being scared. After a few seconds of silence, I let out a sigh and lower the umbrella tiredly. This man may be weird, but he hadn't tried to hurt me. And honestly, he had all the chance in the world to do so while I was sleeping.

The Doctor raises an eyebrow at me and I scowl at him in response. “I’m not sure what is going on.” I admit to him. 

He shrugs and responds, “Is anyone ever sure of what’s going on?”

I feel like sighing again, but I manage to restrain the urge. Deciding to make myself comfortable, I climb back onto the bed and sit cross-legged while facing him. “Please, sit down”

The Doctor pulls out the chair from beside the table and sets in in front of the bed facing me. He sits down, giving me an expectant look. 

“Who are you?" I ask. "You told me you were the Doctor earlier, but unless there are two men named the Doctor I don’t see how you can be.” 

The Doctor nods at me. “I am indeed the Doctor, and the other man you met was also likely the Doctor.”

“But how is that possible?” I frown at him. 

“I’m an alien.” He responds, lips quirking up into a crooked smile. 

I scrub my hands over my face. “So you’re saying that you what? Shapeshift?” 

“Well.” He responds. “That’s not completely inaccurate.” 

Well then. I decide to just move on. “Where am I?” 

The Doctor’s face brightens into a smile. “This is the Tardis. Stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space.”

I eye him. “So you’re trying to tell me that I’m on a spaceship right now?”

“Yes.” Like it’s nothing special. 

“A spaceship.” I repeat. 

He nods. “A spaceship. Well, it also travels in time.” 

“I’m still not convinced you’re an alien, and now your trying to tell me that you have a spaceship that travels in time?” Maybe I was still asleep? 

“But I am an alien.” The Doctor responds. “This is a spaceship, it does travel in time and I can prove it to you.” Leaning forward he holds out his hands in my direction. “I have two hearts.”

Narrowing my eyes at him in suspicion, I hesitantly place my hands on his. He tightens his fingers around my wrists and pulls them forward until I am touching his chest. I think he wants me to feel his heartbeat? I concentrate, and slowly I am able to feel the vibrations. Thump Thump, goes one side of his chest. Thump Thump, goes the other. Thump Thump Thump Thump. Beats under both of my hands. Hands which are on different sides of his chest. I pull back my hands and stare at them in shock. 

“Okay,” I whisper. “This all seems so much more real than it did a minute ago.” Looking up at the Doctor, I swallow. “Was it all real then? The car?” He nods, face serioous. “The Hospital then, I really did get stitches?”

The Doctor scowls. “Stitches, yes!” He points a finger at me. “Do not do that again!” 

“Well it’s not like I tried to get stitches!” I grumble, off kilter. 

“Not that.” He corrects. “You nearly tore all of the original stitches out. You caused enough damage to yourself that even with the tools I had at my disposal there is still a scar.” 

I look down at my stomach and raise my shirt up a bit. I can see a somewhat jagged scar bisecting my bellybutton and traveling down towards the top of my pajama bottoms. Alien technology. Huh. Handy that. 

I direct a sharp look up at the Doctor. “I’m supposing that you were the one who put these clothes on me then?” 

“Not me!” The Doctor is quick to reassure me, hands up like he's fending off an attack. “I had Ace come and do it. I assumed that you would be more comfortable that way.” 

“You assumed right.” I confirm. “Thank you.” 

“Well then. I’m sure you’d like a shower. Go through that door there and you should find one.” He nods over to a door that definitely hadn’t been there before. I squint at it in disbelief. Where had that been when I was looking for somewhere to hide? “Oh!” The Doctor exclaims, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pair of glasses. “Here, I made these for you.” 

I look at the glasses, then back up to him. He looks so pleased with himself. Slowly, almost against my will, I smile up at him. “Time travel you say?” 

His smile takes on a proud edge. “Clever girl.”

Taking the glasses from his hand, I thank him, before heading into the bathroom to clean off the smell of hospital that is lingering in the room. 

~  
I let out a happy sigh as I finish pulling on the clothes that someone had helpfully left outside the bathroom door. A shower had been just what I needed. I felt more grounded than I had since I woke up in the hospital. 

I still wasn’t completely convinced that this was real, but freaking out at every little thing wasn’t going to help me at all. Then there was the Doctor, he seems to know me in some sort of fashion, but if he was being truthful about time travel then maybe it was possible that he knew me from his past? His past, being my future? It would explain why everyone seems to know my name when I've never seen them before. 

The Doctor was some sort of shape changing alien I guess? The evidence of his heartsbeats seemed to be legit. Time travel I was a little more suspicious about, but considering that I had apparently caught on fire earlier and ended up in a different place, I wasn’t going to dismiss it completely just yet. 

I shake my head to clear that thought from it. Time to stop hiding around in here. Placing my glasses on, I enjoy the way the world comes into sharp focus. Huh, proper prescription and everything. More evidence towards the knowing me previously tab. 

Heading to the door, I follow the corridor down the hall. At the end of the corridor, there is a choice of going left or right. Looking down either side only shows more corridor. I bite my lip in hesitation for a second before I decide to just go down the left corridor. I make it about two steps before I feel something. A warm tugging sensation in my head. Like someone has grabbed my hand and is pulling me in the opposite direction. 

I’m already in the process of turning back towards the right corridor before I realize what has just happened.

Something  
In  
My  
Head

Instead of following through with the movement, I jerk my body to try to stop turning around, but my legs get tangled together and I fall to the ground with a clattering bang. 

Laying there for a moment I just contemplate life. And aliens. In my head. Which at that moment throbs in time to my heart beat because of course I hit it when I fell to the floor. Cursing profoundly, I bring my self into a sitting position. Which is when the Doctor hurries around the corner, and gives me a concerned look. 

“What are you doing down there?” He asks me, audibly bewildered. 

“I’m just enjoying the scenery,” I reply in a deadpan. “Also wondering why I just felt something rummaging around in my head, but the scenery is probably more important.” If you haven’t noticed sarcasm is my defense mechanism. 

The Doctor reaches down and grabs my arm to help me up. “Oh yes.” He responds, sounding a little guilty. “That’s the Tardis, she’s sentient. She helps translate other languages, and sometimes gives directions. Were you going down the left corridor?” He nods in that direction.

“Yeah.” I reply. 

“There, you see? Nothing to worry about. She was directing you towards the console room. If you were to head down the left corridor you would eventually hit the library.” Yeah, cause that makes it all better. 

My hands feel a little clammy so I rub them against my pants roughly. “So, space ship that travels in time is also sentient and can get into my mind.” I check off, my voice as calm as I can make it. 

The Doctor eyes me worriedly. “Yes” 

I close my eyes and count to ten. My voice still comes out low and sharp. “With everything earlier, you didn’t think to mention the fact that your spaceship could get into my head and mess with things?”

I can hear the Doctor shift around, and I open my eyes just in time for my vision to get obscured again. This time by a pale jacket. He wraps his arms around me and holds me to his chest in a hug. “The Tardis doesn’t ‘mess’ around in your head. She just helps.” The Doctor pulls back to look at me and places his hands on my shoulders. “I would explain more, but you seem to be leaving now.”

I frown at him. “What do you mean I’m leaving?” But I think I already know. I can feel the heat start to rise. Swallowing shallowly, I can hear my voice wobble as I ask, “I’m on fire again, aren’t I?”

The Doctor's hands move from my shoulders and cup my face. “Breathe.” 

I let my breath out in a whoosh and then the light brightens, obscuring my vision once again. 

~  
I’m left blinking out spots from my vision, unsurprised to find myself in an entirely new room. 

My breath catches as the spots recede enough to actually take a good look at the room around me. There is a central pillar that has all sorts of levers and buttons on it. The floor is glass and shows wires trailing from the central pillar. Everything around me glows a warm orange. It’s…gorgeous. 

The same warmth from earlier in the corridor fills my head again, only this time instead of tugging, it feels like a welcome? My eyes narrow and I eye the central pillar in suspicion. The warmth takes on a vaguely humorous tone and I get the feeling that the Tardis is laughing at me. 

“Okay,” I mutter. “I’m talking to a sentient spaceship that travels in time.” Heading over to the pillar I reach out and touch it gently. “The last time I did this ‘jumping’ thing I ended up somewhere the Doctor was. Considering that it was the second time I saw him, I’m assuming that it isn’t a coincidence.” The ship sends me feelings of affirmation. “Is he here now?” 

I get the sense of someone grabbing my hand again. It pulls me towards a set of doors. I look up at the pillar. “He’s outside of those doors?” Affirmation, again, before the presence fades.

As I head towards the doors, the sound of something banging into it startles me. Hesitating, I listen, but the only thing I can make out is muffled voices. Deciding that the Tardis wouldn't have led me here if there was something wrong, I proceed to open the door, and have to back up quickly to get out of the way as a gangly looking man falls in through said door. 

“Mabel!” A female voice cries out in surprise, followed immediately by a male voice saying the same thing. 

The man who fell through the door jumps to his feet, pulling his left suspender back into place. “This isn’t what it looked like!” He blurts, sending a stern look towards the woman still on the other side of the door. The woman briefly looks chastised before she raises her chin and glares back at him. 

Taking a look at the man, I take in the outfit of black slacks that are too short, suspenders over a pink shirt and a bowtie to complete everything. The only other person I’ve seen wearing something as ridiculous as this was the Doctor. My guess was that this was him, I mean he did say he was a shape changing alien after all. 

“A woman pushing a man up against a door, with the man being half undressed. It looked pretty self-explanatory to me.“ I raise an eyebrow. “I’m not entirely sure what else it was supposed to look like.” 

The Doctor shakes his head, insistent. “It wasn’t like that, I was saying no!” He looks over at the woman. “You’re human! You’re Amy. You’re getting married in the morning. In..the..morning.” Oh, low blow Amy, trying to kiss another guy the night before your wedding. I feel bad for her potential husband.

“Doctor?” She asks, hesitant now. 

“It’s you. It’s all about you. Everything. It’s about you.” The Doctor continues. I’m so lost. 

“Hold that thought” Amy says, posing seductively against the door. Eugh. 

“Amy Pond." The Doctor states. "Mad, impossible, Amy Pond. I don’t know why, I have no idea, but quite possibly the single most important thing in the history of the universe is that I get you sorted out right now.“ 

“Seriously?” I ask, incredulous. Do they have to do this in front of me? “I’m still in the room.”

The Doctor looks over at me with a grimace. “Not in that way!” Okay that clears that up, in what way then? 

He rushes over and grabs Amy’s arm, using it to drag her into the Tardis. He reaches around her to close the door, then runs up to the main pillar and starts pressing buttons and pulling levers. The Tardis shakes and I scramble to grab something before I’m thrown to the ground for the second time that day. 

Finally, the shaking seems to even out and I let go of the railing, Amy doing the same from the opposite side of the room. She glances at me for a second, before going up to the Doctor and attempting to grab his arm. A sharp look from him stops her in her tracks. 

“Doctor?” Amy asks in confusion. 

“It’s been a long day, I suggest you go take a shower.” He responds, ignoring her questioning look. 

He turns to me and gently grabs my arm before leading me out of the room and down a hallway. “It didn’t mean anything.” He says to me, voice low and serious. 

I eye him. “Okay?” 

“I’m serious.” The Doctor insists.

“I believe you.” I respond slowly, watching him eye me. He seems to find what he was looking for because tension I didn’t even know he had drains from his shoulders. 

His hand relaxes from its grip around my arm and I can feel his fingers slide against my skin, causing me to shiver, as he follows my arm down to my hand, gripping it loosely. I look up at him in surprise, but he just smiles down at me. 

Before I can question him about what he is doing, we enter a room that looks vaguely like a kitchen. 

The Doctor gestures at a chair and motions for me to sit down. I take the suggestion, watching in curiosity as he putters around. 

“So what are you going to do with Amy?” I ask, once the silence has hit awkward levels. “You didn’t look very pleased earlier.”

“I’m going to bring in backup.” He informs me. “Anyways! Tea! Best thing for the synapses after a rough day. Nothing like a superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin.” 

The Doctor comes over with two mugs and places one in front of me. “I’m not a huge tea person.” I tell him, well I am but I’m pretty picky when it comes to tea. It’s just easier to say that I don’t like tea, then accidentally offend the man by not drinking it. 

“Liar.” He smiles, one that starts out small but grows the longer he looks at me. “You love tea. This is your favorite.” Oh, that’s kind of off putting. Time travel though. I bring the tea up to my lips and hesitantly take a sip. 

“Mhh,” The sound of appreciation leaves my lips almost involuntarily. My body relaxes into the chair behind me. I draw in a deeper sip. “This is gorgeous!” 

The smile on my face fades though, as I notice the intense look he is directing my way. He’s still smiling, but his eyes are sad. “I didn’t notice at first. This is early for you.”

“If by early you mean I’ve only met you twice before, than yes.” I respond. Setting the cup of delicious tea down on the table, I direct my full attention to the Doctor. 

“I should have known, I haven’t seen you with this color hair in decades.” The Doctor says, reaching out and tugging on a piece of my orange colored hair. 

I narrow my eyes at him. “You are very touchy feely.” 

He seems amused at this. “Am I?” 

“Yeah.” I respond. “Hugging, arm tugging, hand holding.” 

He hums as he thinks about it. “I guess I am.” 

“I don’t even know you.” I tell him. “You’re being very familiar with me.” 

He reaches forward with his finger and taps my nose. “Ah!” he exclaims. “You might not know me, but I’ve known you for a very long time now. This must all seem very strange and mad at the moment, so you are latching on to something that makes sense. It’s easier to ask me why I touch you casually, then it is to actually process everything that’s been going on.” He pauses to take a breath. “The touching, do you want me to stop?”

What? My nose wrinkles as I try to untangle that sentence. “Honestly, I don’t even know. I’m still half convinced this is all a dream.” 

The Doctor tilts his head to the side and places his hand, facing up, on the table next to mine. An invitation, my choice. I bite my lip, hesitating for a second, before I place my palm into his. His fingers curl around mine. 

At that kindness, I can feel tears stinging at my eyes again. I try to take my hand back, but he tightens his fingers and won’t let me. Ridiculous girl, I say to myself, you need to stop crying at everything. I take a shuddering breath and bring my other hand up to hide my face. “This had gone so far beyond anything I’ve ever experienced that I honestly don't know how to handle it.” 

I hear the Doctor’s chair scrape across the floor as he stands up, leaving his hand in mine but moving around the table. He pulls my other hand from my face and presses a kiss to my forehead. “It’s okay to not know.” He tells me, voice low. “Mabel, it’s okay to be scared.”

I pull back from him, and this time he lets me. Taking a deep breath, I wipe the moisture from the corner of my eyes. “Being awfully familiar again Doctor.” I tease him. “A girl can take that the wrong way y’know?”

He looks at me for a second before breaking into a smile of his own. “What’s to say that I don’t want you to take it the right way?” 

I look at him, a little shocked. “Do you mea-“ 

“Spoilers, Dear.” The Doctor interrupts, placing a finger on my lips. 

I bat his hands away from my mouth and stand up, ready to argue, but he spins around and starts babbling again. 

“If I remember this correctly, this being after you just left my seventh self, then you shouldn’t be tired at the moment. What do you say about going on an adventure?” His beams at me. 

“An adventure?” I narrow my eyes at him. 

He leans in. “An adventure.” 

Excitement trickles through me. The Doctor must see my face change because he grabs my hand and starts to drag me out of the room. “Wait!” I cry out. He stops, looking at me in confusion. 

I grip his hand tighter and drag him back over to the table. Grabbing my mug, I down my now cold, but still delicious, tea. “There,” I say. “Now we can go.” 

The Doctor guffaws, bending over from the of his laughter. “What?” I ask him, but he just continues to laugh. A little annoyed I tug on our joined hands. “I thought we were going on an adventure?”

Straightening up, he beams at me and pulls me down the hallway. “Yes, adventure!” 

“So where are we going?” I question him, a little excited. Okay, a lot excited. 

“It’s a surprise!” He responds in a bright voice. I pout at him, but he just laughs at me. 

We reach the room with the pillar and he runs around it, all the while pressing buttons and pulling levers again. 

“Y’know, when I first saw this room I was blown away by how beautiful it was.” I tell him. 

He gapes at me for a second before smacking himself in the forehead. “Oh, silly Doctor.” He seems to berate himself, before straightening up and gesturing around to the room. “So, what do you think?”

I hum thoughtfully. “It’s gorgeous. Everything here looks warm, lived in. It looks like a home.” 

“She, not it.” The Doctor replies, continuing his mad race around the console. 

“She?” I echo. 

“I told you that the Tardis was sentient, well she’s a she, not an it.” He continues matter of factly. 

I look up at the pillar in guilt. “Sorry, I didn’t know.” I get a feeling of warmth back, so I guess she’s not mad. Looking down, I just barely catch a glimpse of the Doctor's proud face before the ship shakes and I am sent careening towards the railing again. Ooph, railing meet stomach. “Can’t you fly this thing without throwing everyone everywhere!” 

The Doctor just smirks at me. “Where’s the fun in that?” 

Glaring at him halfheartedly, I find my feet and brace until the shaking stops. The Doctor grabs a tweed jacket from a set of seats near the console and pulls it on. Hurrying over to me, he takes my hand again and drags me over to the door. “First alien planet.” He murmurs. “Excited yet?”

I smile. It's time to see if this ship is what he says it is. “Oh yeah.” 

He opens the door and I can see light coming in from outside. My breath catches and this time I’m the one dragging the Doctor out the door. I gape up at the trees surrounding us. The 200 foot tall, orange trees. Orange trees, with purple leaves. 

“This is so cool!” I squeal, spinning around as much as his hand will let me. As I do this, I catch site of a blue box. A blue box that I can still see the console inside of. “What?!” I exclaim in disbelief. Dropping the Doctor’s hand, I run over to touch the outside of the box. I do a circuit around it, then I peek inside and see the console room is still there. “How?” I ask the Doctor, mind completely boggled. “It’s bigger on the inside!”

A flash interrupts me from my brain breaking again. I focus on the Doctor and see the camera in his hands. Frowning, I shake my head and decide to focus on more important things. “So is it like some sort of dimensional thing. Like on the outside it’s a box, but the inside is hooked up to another dimension which is why it can all seem to fit into the box?”

“Have you always been this clever?” The Doctors asks me, face fond. 

“Stop that.” I brush off the flattery. “Am I close?”

“Weeell, yes. I mean sort of, but mostly yes.” He responds, face scrunching up like he’s thinking hard. “Anyways, we are in the Dagmar Cluster on a relatively small planet called Ousterious. This planet won’t be discovered for another 3,000 years or so. A whole world, and we are the first people to see it.” 

The Doctor smiles down at me, snapping his fingers, which causes the doors of the Tardis to close. "What do you say, Mabel Falkov? Are you willing to find out what's out here?" 

I slot my arm into his and gesture out into the trees. “You bet I am, let's go explore.” And for hours, that’s exactly what we did.


	3. Life in the looking glass (Vampires in Venice)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came in at a whopping 16 pages, largest one I've written yet. I'm hoping that Mabel's reaction to things are coming across as genuine. It's difficult to toe the line between not enough and too much.
> 
> *Edited Mar 23rd 2018  
> Fixed tense changes, though there aren't as many of those now, as well as smoothed out dialogue.

For all the Doctor had been reticent about answering questions the last times I had seen him, it seemed he had moved past that now. I learned that he was a timelord, from a planet called Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I learned that instead of shapeshifting at will, he could only do it when he was in danger of dying. I apparently ‘jumped’ around his timeline. Jumping back and forth between different hims. He told me that we didn’t always meet in the same order, so I had to be careful about what I revealed to certain hims, just like he had to be careful with certain mes. Explains the Spoilers comment I guess. 

Several hours later, we had turned back and were slowly ambling in the general direction of the ship. 

“-and then the head moose said to me, ‘There can only be one!’ and tried to swipe the hat from my head with his antlers!” The Doctor explains. “Oi! Don’t laugh!” His tone is irritated, but his lips trying to twitch up into a smile ruins the scold. 

Not like it would have done anything anyways, I'm laughing so hard at this point that I was nearly crying with it. “I can’t believe you tried to get into a hat off with a moose!” 

Loosing the battle with his smile, the Doctor laughs along with me. The Tardis comes into view as we round a corner on the path, and he pulls a ordinary key looped on a string out of one of his pockets. "Tardis key." He explains, handing it to me. 

I look at the key, then back to him. "Why are you giving this to me?" 

"You live here, everyone should have a key to their own house." He gestures towards the door, probably wanting me to unlock it. "And you have one in the past, which means you got it from somewhere. Might as well be from here." 

Thinking that over, I frown down at the key. "Doesn't that make things complicated?" 

The Doctor gives me a confused look. "What are you taking about?" 

"You see someone with a Tardis key in the past, so you know you are going to give it to them in the future. What if you don't like that person?" I lift my face to his, frowning at him rather than the key now. 

Realization blooms across his face. "Mabel, I'm not giving you the key because I have to. I'm giving it to you because you need it and I'm happy to provide one." His head tilts to the side, eyes studying me. 

I shift, uncomfortable with the way he's looking at me. So I ignore it, turning around and unlocking the door, then threading the chain of the necklace over my head and smiling at him over my shoulder. "Thank you for the key Doctor." 

“Heh Hem” A female voice comes from near the console. A smile still on my lips, I look over to see a seriously pissed off looking ginger. 

“What’s the big deal, locking me in the Tardis!” She demands. The Doctor grimaces in her direction. 

“I was thinking that you needed a wash and a sleep. Or a sleep and a wash. Anyways!” He dashes towards to console and starts messing with controls on the console once again. “Amy Pond, you are getting married in the morning! And we are going to go pick your future husband up.” 

Amy’s face pales dramatically, but before she can open her mouth and respond the Tardis takes off. I lunge for something to hold onto, I’m kind of getting tired of being thrown around. The Tardis shakes with the landing and the Doctor takes off towards the doors while shouting over his shoulder, “I’ll be right back, stay here.”

“Doctor!” Amy yells after him, but he is already gone. She takes off towards the door, but I step in her way. 

“He told us to stay here.” I remind her. 

She glares at me, and tries to move around me. Grabbing her arm, I pull her away from the door. 

“Hey! I don’t know what your problem is, and I honestly don’t care." I tell the redhead. "You can glare at me to your heart’s content. I only have one question for you." 

“What?” She snaps at me. 

I tilt my head to the side, going for the question that will cut the deepest. “Do you care for the man you are getting married to ‘in the morning’?”

Amy snatches her arm back, face livid. “Of course I care for him!” 

“Then stop being stupid.” I order, feeling myself starting to get annoyed. 

Amy bristles, even her hair is managing to look angry. “Stupid?” She challenges. “You mean the kind of stupid you are? I’ve seen how you look at him. Don’t lecture me about it when you feel the same way!”

I blink at her in astonishment for a second, and she starts to look smug. “I honestly have no idea what you are talking about. I only met the guy twice before, and this is the first time I’ve seen him like this.” I frown at her before sighing. “Look I get it, you’re scared about getting married. You don’t know if you want to be devoted to one person like that. Instead of trying to get with someone else, you need to sit down and talk with your fiancé about it. All you are doing right now is putting all three of you in a bad position.”

There are a couple of seconds of silence before the doors to the Tardis slam open, making both of us jump. The Doctor stumbles in, stopping at the sight of the two of us being in each other's faces. He narrows his eyes at me for some reason, so I shake my head at him. Face falling, the Doctor bounds towards the console and then disappears down a side staircase heading under the console. A man slowly walks into the room, the shirt he is wearing has a picture of both his and Amy’s face in a heart. Fiancé I’m assuming. Ouch. The look on his face is despondent. 

No one says anything. 

To avoid the awkwardness I can feel building up, I offer the man my hand. “Hi, I’m Mabel!” 

He jerks a bit, “Mabel? But – that’s - I thought you had black hair?” 

I groan good naturedly. “Y’mean I go back to black? I liked the orange.” I pull my lips into an exaggerated pout, hoping to make him laugh. It doesn’t work. “So what’s your name?”

Blinking at me in confusion, Amy’s fiancé asks, “What do you mean, what’s my name?” 

Something sparks from under the console, catching my attention. A brief feeling of chastisement comes from the Tardis, which causes the Doctor to grumble and come back up from under the floor. “Time travel Rory. You’ve met her, but she hasn’t met you. Also keep the spoilers to a minimum, no sharing details with her that she doesn’t know yet.” He chides, waving a finger in Rory’s face. 

The Doctor spins around, continuing. “Life out there it dazzles. Makes people do strange things. Because for one person to have seen all that, to taste the glory and then go back, it will tear you apart. So! I’m sending you somewhere, together.” 

Amy’s brow furrows, “Whoa. What, like a date?”

“Anywhere you want. Any time you want. One condition. It has to be amazing.” The Doctor stipulates, coming over to me and stopping. “The Moulin Rouge in 1890. The first Olympic games. Think of it as a wedding present, because it’s either this or wedding tokens.” 

Rory doesn’t seem to be paying attention though, finally seeming to notice that he’s in a spaceship. The Doctor straightens a bit, looking pleased, walking towards Rory. “It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it? Tiny box, huge room inside. What’s that about? Let me explain.”

Rory cuts him off. “It’s another dimension.”

“It’s basically another dimension.” The Doctor starts, before realizing what Rory just said. “What?”

Shrugging, Rory explains. “After what happened with Prisoner Zero, I’ve been reading up on all the latest scientific theories. FTL travel, parallel universes-” 

“I like the bit when someone says it’s bigger on the inside. I always look forward to that.” The Doctor cuts in, looking annoyed. 

“Hey!” I direct to the Doctor, reaching over and smacking him on the arm. 

“So, this date. I’m kind of done running down corridors. What do you think, Rory?” Amy chimes in. 

“How about somewhere romantic?” The Doctor smirks, pulling down a lever at the same time, and sending us into space. I reach out and grab the console to brace myself. He nods to a button next to my hand. “Press that.”

Hesitantly, I reach out and press it in. The Tardis jerks for a second, but the Doctor grabs my other hand and drags me over to his side of the console, preventing me from falling. We land, and I wonder to myself just where we are now. 

Dragging me with him, the Doctor runs up to the doors and throws them open. “Venice!” He exclaims. My mouth drops open in awe. 

“Seriously?” I manage to squeak out. 

Smirking, he looks down at me and nods. 

My eyes widen. “I’ve always wanted to go to Venice!” 

The Doctor taps me on the nose with his finger. “I know, dear.”

We move away from the door and walk further out into the town square we materialized in. Rory and Amy following us. 

“Venezia. La Serenissima. Impossible city. Preposterous city." The Doctor babbles. "Founded by refugees running from Attila the Hun. It was just a collection of little wooden huts in the middle of the marsh, but became one of the most powerful cities in the world. Constantly being invaded, constantly flooding, constantly just beautiful. Ah, you got to love Venice. So many people did. Byron, Napoleon, Casanova.” Panicking, he checks his watch. “Ooo, that reminds me. 1580. That's all right. Casanova doesn't get born for a hundred and forty five years. Don't want to run into him. I owe him a chicken.”

“You owe Casanova a chicken?” Rory echos. 

“Long story, we had a bet” The Doctor continues, walking off with Rory and Amy. 

I’m stuck where I am. Taking in the sites. Spinning around in a circle, I laugh in disbelief. How is this my life now? 

“Oi, now.” The Doctor’s voice comes out of nowhere. He grabs my hand. “Rule number one, now this is very important so pay attention. Don’t wander off.” 

I frown at him. “I didn’t wander off, you wandered off. I stayed exactly where I was.” 

“I still don’t know why the paper said I was your eunuch.” Rory states from behind the Doctor, tone upset. 

“You have a piece of paper around that says Rory is a eunuch?” Bemused, I look up at the Doctor.

“No, No, No, that would be silly. I have a piece of psychic paper.” Pulling a folded black thing that looks vaguely like a flat wallet from his pocket, he offers it to me. “Here see, I can make it say anything.” 

I open it, and end up laughing in delight. “It says here that you are the king of hats!” 

He straightens his bow tie, preening. “Of course I am, that moose had an unfair advantage. It’s not fair when you can grow your own hat.” 

My face feels tight, mouth starting to hurt from the smile that won’t stop. “This is seriously so cool. I never thought I would experience anything like this. This is amazing.” Spinning around, I try to take in as much of the surrounding area as possible.

“I hate it when he does that.” Amy states, catching my attention. Looking around, I notice that the Doctor isn’t anywhere. What is it with that man and running off all the time. 

Amy directs her attention to Rory. Grabbing his arm and leaning into him. “Want to go explore?” She asks him in excitement. 

Backing away quietly, I disappear around the corner before they notice. It will be a nice date for them. Plus, now I can go explore on my own. 

I wander around aimlessly for a little while. Everything going pretty well, until I pass by a group of men. One whistles at me and makes a rude gesture with his hand. Rolling my eyes, I do my best to ignore them. 

“Girl, my friend here was talking to you.” A voice comes from the group I just walked by. 

“Rude gestures and catcalling does not make a conversation.” I refute, picking up my pace. 

“You should be thankful that anyone is even trying to talk to you. With your strange clothes and even stranger hair. You aren’t exactly the classical definition of beauty there sweetheart.” The man who made the rude gesture sneers at me. I’ll call him overcompensation. 

I scoff, “And yet, you are the one still trying to get my attention.” Turning my back on them, I continue to walk away until a hand reaches out and closes down on my arm harshly. Twisting, I immediately position my shoulder under the arm and twist. Overcompensation shouts as he flies over me and lands on the ground. 

I move so I can see both him and his friends. Hands loose and ready by my sides in case any of them try anything else. 

“What’s going on here?” I hear the Doctor’s voice. He sounds harsh and cold, but his hand gently comes to rest on my back. The odds look much better now that he is here. 

Overcompensation’s mouth flaps up and down for a second without sound before he turns away and storms off, his friends trailing after him. 

Tension slides out of my spine and I sag back into the hand on my back. “Thanks.” Looking up, I’m taken aback by the hard look on the Doctors face. His jaw works back and forth for a second. A feeling of anger hits me all at once. I flinch away from him and the anger goes away. Shocked, I look at him. “That’s you, isn’t it?” 

He grimaces, but nods. “I’m a touch telepath. Skin to skin contact can let me read surface thoughts and emotions. If someone is feeling a particularly strong emotion I can pick up on that without the contact.” 

I raise an eyebrow. “Okay, getting that. Doesn’t in any way shape or form explain why I’m suddenly experiencing your emotions.” 

The Doctor raises his hands in supplication. “By communicating with you, the Tardis has activated your latent telepathic abilities. You are starting to pick up on my emotions.” 

"What?" My mouth drops open in shock. “You say that like you expected it to happen, does it normally happen to your companions?” 

The Doctor shakes his head. “No, not all my companions.” 

I narrow my eyes at him. “Is this one of those spoilers situation you were talking about earlier?” 

The look of relief on his face is almost comical. “Yes! Exactly that. Spoilers.” 

Spoilers huh. I’m starting to get annoyed with that word. I can feel the lines of my face fall into a surly expression. The Doctor notices, of course he does. He always seems to notice. 

“Let’s go Mabel! There seems to be something odd going on with the Calvierri school here. I had a very enlightening conversation with a man whose daughter was accepted. He told me that she didn’t seem to recognize him, and that one of the other girls had a strange animal like face.” He starts to walk off, placing his hand on the small of my back to direct me. 

Pursing my lips, I ask. “So is this what you do then? Just go from place to place, finding trouble and fixing it?” 

“No, no, that isn’t what happens. We travel along for the discovery of it. Finding new things, seeing the beauty of it all. Trouble just seems to find us the majority of the time.” He responds, waving his one free hand in the air sporadically. I didn’t fail to notice the ‘we’ specification he used. 

I feel the lines in my brow start to even out, my annoyance leaving me. I never was one to stay upset for long. “Doctor,” I start hesitantly. “How long have you known me? You say ‘we’ like I am with you all the time. But that can’t be possible. You told me you change when you die, comparable to humans, your life must be so much longer. And what about my life? I still have school to finish. People that will notice that I'm gone.” I feel his hand clench for a second in my shirt, before he releases it. 

Turning to me, it feels like the Doctor is staring into my soul. For the first time since I felt his double heart, I am reminded that he is alien. “Oh, Mabel. Braveheart, Mabel” He reaches up and cups my head in his hands. “I think you already know the answer, you just don’t want to admit it. Once you got hit by that car, it started a process that we haven’t found a way to stop yet. I could drop you off, and you could go back to school as normal. But before long you would jump back to me. You always jump back to me in the end.” He shifts his fingers so they make contact with my skin. 

The contact sparks, and I felt his mind briefly press against mine, comfort offered. Comfort which I automatically accept, until sharp blinding pain makes itself known to me. 

My legs give out, and I fall to the ground. A noise not unlike a wounded animal unfurls into the air. I feel something hot drip from my nose. The world spins, and I'm unable to tell up from down, until something snaps and reality reasserts itself. Gasping, I pulled in air. The noise dies off and I realize that it had been me making it. “Mabel! There you are, slowly now. Deep Breaths.” The Doctor’s worried voice reminds me that I'm not alone. 

“What the fuck was that.” I whisper out of shaky lips. Reaching up and wiping under my nose, my hand comes back red with fresh blood. 

“That was me, making a mistake.” The Doctor sounds angry. I reach up and grab the front of his tweed jacket. 

“I don’t understand.” I admit to him, head still reeling from the experience. 

“I know,” He tells me, voice tight. His hands come up to mine and try to remove my hand from his jacket, but I suddenly have a feeling that allowing him to pull away now would be bad. 

I tighten my grip instead, pulling him back into crouching in front of me. “You said you made a mistake, what was the mistake?” 

The Doctors jaw worked back and forth, before he relents. “I told you your telepathic consciousness was waking up so to speak. When I tried to comfort you earlier, I pushed it took quickly. It’s like a muscle, you need to work with it. Think of it this way, a person can’t just go from never running a day in their life to suddenly running a marathon.” He hangs his head, shame crossing his face. “I’m just used to you being able to feel me. It’s been-“ His mouth shuts so fast his teeth click together. 

Okay then, so I apparently get the hang of it later then. “That’s fine,” I tell him. “Don’t apologize for trying to offer comfort. Maybe next time just don’t push so hard?” I offer, as an olive branch. 

The Doctor’s jaw drops open, and his expression changes rapidly before settling on awe. “Even this young you still know exactly what to say to me. You barely even know me, but you are willing to let me into your mind.” 

I tilt my head to the side. “I might not know you very well yet, but you haven’t done anything to make me think you are untrustworthy. You answered my questions, well mostly. You’ve healed me and done everything in your power to make me feel comfortable.” I shift uncomfortably and attempt to get to my feet. His hands automatically grab my arms and help me up. “I think you do it without even realizing it.” I nod down to his hands. 

The Doctor looks down at them in surprise. “Besides,” I draw his attention again. “You treat telepathy as something common place. That it is something that is normal and expected for you. You said you were used to being able to feel me. I get the feeling that it’s kinda like expecting a hug from a friend and getting nothing but a cold shoulder.” I shrug. “I don’t mind accommodating that. So long as you don’t try to eavesdrop on private things!” I say, shaking my finger at him. 

“Mabel Falkov.” He intones, voice having taken on a strange lilting quality. “Beautiful, kind, Mabel Falkov. My constant. You never stop surprising me.” 

My brow furrows, “What’s with your voice?” 

“What are you talking about? There is nothing wrong with my voice!” The Doctor pulls back, voice normal again. He reaches into his jacket, rummaging around, arm going down almost to his elbow. Bigger on the inside? Handy that. The Doctor crows in triumph, pulling a washcloth and a bag of fluid from his pocket. Dosing the cloth with the fluid he brings it to my face, wiping across the area where I had found the blood earlier. 

“Hey!” I bat at his hands. “Give me that, I don’t need you to clean me up like I’m a child.” He bats back at me with his free hand, not giving up the washcloth. Cranky now, I ask him. “Why do you even have that stuff in your pockets?”

He smiles faintly. “That's actually your fault. You ended up nagging me into carrying a whole first aid kit. You said, and I quote, ‘Stop bellyaching. You have pockets that are bigger on the inside. Just throw a first aid kit in and forget about if you have to, but at least you have it when you need it.’ I didn’t actually listen to you at first. I was kind of a know it all in that body. But then there was a situation that it could have been useful, and I didn’t have one.” His face went dark for a second, before he continues in a light tone. “After that, I always carry at least basic supplies with me.” 

He pulls away from my face at last, folding the cloth, placing it and the liquid pouch back into his pocket. I rub my face with my hands, smacking my cheeks lightly. “How do I look?” 

“Amazing.” The Doctor answers me. I drop my head, trying to hide my flushing cheeks behind my bangs. 

I must not have done a good job, because I see the Doctor smirk. “Ohh! Stop it!” I demand, reaching out to hit his shoulder. 

The Doctor allows me to smack him softly, but he grabs my hand before I can pull it back. “C’mon now, we have a creepy school to investigate!” He exclaims, dragging me off into the city. 

Eventually we come to a side door, him using the sonic to turn the lock and we head down a creepy looking staircase. At the bottom there is a circular room, with several doors. A mirror is hanging on the wall and the Doctor drops my hand to bound over to it. “Hello Handsome.” He says to his own reflection, straightening his bow tie. I roll my eyes at him, and he winks back. 

“Who are you?” Several voices say in unison. We both whirl around in shock. The Doctor grabs my arm, dragging me next to him. 

I glance from the mirror, which shows nothing besides me and the Doctor, to the girls. The Doctor doing the same. 

“How are you doing that? I am loving it!” He exclaims. “You’re like Houdini, only five slightly scary girls, and he was shorter. Will be shorter. I’m rambling.” 

“I’ll ask again, signor, signora. Who are you?” The creepy girls ask in unison once again. 

The Doctor reaches into his pocket and pulls out an id card, showing it to them. “Why don’t you check this out!” They stare at us. He frowns and turns the picture around to look at it. It’s a picture of an old man. “Library card. Of course.” He glances to me. “You have it. I really need to get a spare. Pale, creepy girls who don’t like sunlight and can’t be seen. Ha! Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” I nod. “But the city. Why shut down the city? Unless-“ 

Cutting him off, the girls continue their creepy ‘I am legion’ thing. “Leave now signor, signora, or we shall call for the steward, if you are lucky.”

“Oohh,” The Doctor breaths, sounding delighted. Until the girls hiss at us and bare long sharp teeth in our direction. I grab his arm and start pulling him back towards the staircase. “Wait, Wait!” He directs to me before focusing on the girls again. “Tell me the whole plan!” Gaping at him in frustration, I yank him up the stairs. “I swear, one day that will work!”

“It’ll never work,” I scoff. “I can’t believe you just tried that.” 

The Doctor just laughs and takes the lead. Closing the door behind us and taking off in another direction. Running, why does it got to be running. Grumbling I follow after him, just in time to see Amy and Rory come out of nowhere. 

Amy crashes into the Doctor, and they both start talking at once. “We just met some vampires!” “We just saw a vampire!” “And creepy girls and everything.” “Vampires!” Then they start jumping up and down in excitement. Honestly, the pair of them are like children. 

Rory chimes in, “We think we just saw a vampire.” 

Breathless, the Doctor dismisses him. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. Amy was just telling me.”

“Yeah, Yeah. The Doctor actually went to their house.” Amy continues, putting an arm around the Doctors shoulders. 

“Oh. Right. Well-“ Rory’s voice hesitates. 

The Doctor brings his hands up and smacks Rory’s cheeks. “Okay. So, first we need to get back in there somehow.”

“What?” Rory gapes at him. 

“How do we do that?” Amy asks, words almost tripping over themselves they come so fast. 

Rory seems incredulous. “Back in where?” 

“Come and meet my new friend.” The Doctor drawls, a pleased look on his face. Taking off with Amy still hanging off of him. 

I nod my head in their direction, “Let’s follow them before they get into trouble again.” 

He nods shakily. As we walk in the direction we saw the two trouble makers run off into, I look over at him. He still has the shirt of homage to Amy on under his vest. Amy who is hanging off of another man right now. Ouch. 

“Y’know,” I start. “This is all really very mad isn’t it?” 

Rory fidgets for a second before inclining his head. I continue. “It’s like you just get swept up in this crazy world of make believe, and then nothing is ever the same.” 

He narrows his eyes at me, the first sign of defiance I’ve seen from him so far. Good, he’ll need that if he wasn’t to keep what he has. “Is this going anywhere?” 

“Nah not really,” I say to him, watching his face twitch in disbelief. “I just wanted to let you know that there is still some hope. Just because it might seem like there isn’t any at the moment, she is just getting swept up into the magic. Once the magic fades, she’s going to come back and see what was there to begin with.”

Rory looks down, frowning. “But then who’s to say she won’t get swept up in the next bit of magic that comes along after that?” 

I sigh deeply. “That’s something the two of you need to figure out together.” 

“Oi!” The Doctor calls, popping his head around the corner. “What have I told you about running off?” 

“Not to,” I say to him, and his mouth pops open to no doubt scold me. “I would like to point out that once again, I was not the one who ran off. It was you. Again.” His mouth closes again. 

“Well.” The Doctor straightens his bow tie. “It’s right around here.” Then proceeds to walk back around the corner again. 

Rory makes a strangled noise from beside me. “Is he always like that?” 

“You kind of start to get used to it.” I tell him. 

We head around the corner and get introduced to a man named Guido. He was the one the Doctor had told me about earlier who had enrolled his daughter, Isabella, into the Calvierri school. 

Guido brings over a map of the city and starts talking.

“As you saw, there’s no clear way in. The House of Calvierri is like a fortress.” Guido traces a line across the map with his finger. “But there’s a tunnel underneath it, with a ladder and shaft that leads up into the house. I tried to get in once myself, but I hit a trapdoor.”

Amy shifts, and even before she starts speaking I can already tell I’m not going to like it. “You need someone on the inside.” Yep, I was right. 

“No.” The Doctor immediately responds. 

Taken aback, Amy retorts. “You didn’t even know what I was going to say.”

He glances at her, before looking back down to the map. “Eh, that we pretend you’re an applicant for the school to get inside, and tonight you come down and open the trapdoor to let us in.”

“Oh,” she shifted. “So you do know what I was going to say.”

Rory speaks from his seat on the barrels next to the table. “Are you insane?”

Amy steam rolls over him. “We don’t have another option.”

Rory doesn’t back down this time though. “He said no, Amy. Listen to him.”

“There is another option.” Guido interjects, looking awkward. He points to the barrels behind Rory. “I work at the Arsenal. We build warships for the navy.”

The Doctor goes over to the barrels and sniffs. His lip curls up. “Gunpowder. Most people just nick stationary from where they work.” He points at Guido. “Look, I have a thing about guns and huge quantities of explosives.” 

“What do you suggest then? We wait until they turn her into a monster?” Guido asks, frustration clear in his voice. 

Amy pipes up again, “I’ll be there three, four hours, tops.”

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.” I come over and reach for his hand, trying to offer comfort. He looks down into my eyes, expression sad. “It can’t keep happening like this. This is how they go.” He spins away from me, rubbing his face harshly. “But I have to know. We go together, say you’re my daughter.” He directs to Amy. 

Rory starts, immediately outraged. “What? Don’t listen to him!”

Amy scoffs. “Your daughter? You look about nine!”

The Doctor nods, giving her that one. “Brother, then.” 

Amy shakes her head. “To weird. Fiancé.” Oh Amy. I close my eyes, my heart twinging with sympathy for Rory. 

Rory voice is frustrated as he speaks. “I’m not having him run around telling people he’s your fiancé!”

She seems to understand that she took it a bit to far. “No. No, you’re right.” She tells Rory. 

“Thank you.” He responds, hackles lowering. 

“I mean, they’ve already seen the Doctor. You should do it.” She continues. 

“Me?” Rory echos, but I can tell he already knows where this is going. 

“Yeah!” Amy confirms, voice unnaturally high. “You can be my brother.” 

Looking up at the ceiling, I inhale deeply. Trying to get my temper under control. I can hear Rory in the background asking her why it’s okay for him to be her brother and not the Doctor. The Doctor comes over and grabs my hand. I try to send how fed up I’m becoming with Amy’s behavior in his direction, headache be damned. I think he gets it, cause he squeezes my hand and nods. I can faintly feel him send exasperation my way. 

“The whole thing is mental! There vampires for god’s sake.” Rory states, the look of someone very close to their limit on his face. 

“Hopefully.” The Doctor grimaces a bit. 

Amy narrows her eyes. “So, if they aren’t vampires?” 

“If they aren’t vampires, then it makes you wonder what could be so bad that they don’t actually mind us thinking they are vampires in the first place.” I chime in. Though actual vampires would be kinda cool. It always seems to be aliens with the Doctor though. 

~

Rory took Amy to be inducted into the school of creepy vampires, while the Doctor, Guido and I got into his gondola and head towards the secret entrance. It’s night out now, and getting creepy. Especially considering that we are heading into the home of supposed vampires.

“She’ll be fine,” The Doctor tries to reassure Rory. 

It doesn’t seem to work. “You can promise me that, can you?” He states rather than asks. 

The Doctor looks away first and doesn’t respond. I glare at Rory for a second, making sure he notices before I shake my head. Rory looks a little ashamed of himself, but doesn’t apologize. Ugh, men. 

“We’re here.” Guido informs us, bringing the gondola up next to a staircase. The Doctor grabs a torch from beside the open gate and continues on through. Rory and I follow, peering suspiciously into the darkness. 

“Right. Okay, I’ll go first. If anything happens to me, go back.” The Doctor whispers back to us. I narrow my eyes at him, ready to argue. Before I can Rory speaks, sounding like it is being forced from him. 

“What happened, between you and Amy?” He hisses. “You said she kissed you.”

“Now?” The Doctor snaps, glancing at me. “You want to do this now?”

“I have a right to know!” Rory insists, rushing to catch up to the Doctor. “I’m getting married in four hundred and forty years.”

The Doctor catches my eyes and mouths ‘humans’. “It was nothing.” He maintains, answering Rory. “She was frightened, I was frightened. But we survived, you know, and the relief of it, and so she kissed me.”

“You kissed her back?” Rory’s voice is flat. 

The Doctor frowns in confusion, “No, I kissed her mouth.” 

Ughh, daft alien. Not helping. 

Rory is unamused. “Funny.” 

The Doctor winces, shifting from foot to foot. “Rory. Rory, she kissed me because I was there. It would have been you. It should have been you.”

“Yeah it should have been me.” Rory agreed. 

“Exactly. That’s why I brought you here.” The Doctor states, before a wind rattles though the hall and blows out the torch in his hand. I reach out and grab his arm, shivering from the cold and darkness. 

“Can we go and see the vampires now, please?” I ask, voice a little desperate. I’m not feeling the macho man routine in the dark. 

Putting an arm around my shoulder, the Doctor hurries us down the hallway. We finally come to a small room. Light just barely coming from a place in the ceiling. Probably the trap door then. 

The Doctor gets Rory to lift him up and heaves the trapdoor open. He disappears for a moment before his head and upper torso pop back into view. He reaches down and I jump up catching his hands. He pulls me up like I weigh nothing. It’s…surprising attractive. I can see his back muscles flex through his jacket as he pulls Rory up. 

“Amy?” The Doctor calls, running back and forth trying to see. “Where’s Amy?” 

I squint out into the darkness, but beyond our little bubble it’s too dark to see. 

“I can’t see a thing.” Rory echos my thoughts, voice turning smug as he pulls something from his pocket. “Just as well I brought this then.” He presses something and a little light appears, it’s a pen light! 

The Doctor pulls a huge light sabre looking thing from his jacket. It’s so bright that I turn my face away, blinking frantically to try and clear the spots from my eyes. 

“Ultraviolet. Portable sunlight” The Doctor explains. 

Despondent, Rory comments, “It’s bigger than mine.” I hastily avert my face, trying my hardest not to laugh. 

Glancing at Rory sharply, the Doctor simply states. “Let’s not go there.”

I glance around again, now that it seems they are done with the posturing. My vision has mostly adjusted now. Noticing a large chest in the corner, I move towards it. There seems to be something poking out the front? I open it, and proceed to shriek at the sight of a dead, dried up body. 

The Doctor immediately materializes behind me, shining his light saber into the chest. 

“What happened to them?” Rory whispers, making me jump. Wholly crap, my heart rate is going through the roof. 

The Doctor puts a hand on my shoulder and squeezes. “They’ve had all the moisture taken out.”

Shakily Rory asks, “That’s what vampires do, right? They drink your blood and replace it with their own.”

“Yeah,” The Doctor confirms, leaning down to take a closer look at the body. “Except these people haven’t just had their blood taken, but all the water in their bodies.”

I lean forward, thinking. Taking all the moisture out of a body. Taking all the moisture, out of a body. “We are in a city built basically on the sea. There is plenty of moisture out there. I think you’re on to something Rory. You said the vampires take your blood and replace it with their own. What if that’s what they are doing here. Sucking all the moisture out and putting their own back in.” I trail off, eyes widening in horror. 

“Maybe not everyone survives the process.” The Doctor finishes, tone serious.

Rory spins around, roughly wiping at his mouth. “You know what’s dangerous about you?” He spits out. “It’s not that you make people take risks. It’s that you make them want to impress you. You make it so they don’t want to let you down. You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you’re around.” 

“Rory!” I call out, shocked at his behavior. “I understand that you are upset, but that is no reason to take it out on someone else. All night, you’ve been taking pot shots, and quite frankly I’m getting sick of it.” I look over at the Doctor, whose eyes are a little to intent on the dried body. “And you! You are no better. You’re purposely egging Rory on.” 

I reach out and grab Rory, dragging him over to the Doctor. I grab the Doctor as well, making it so that he is on his feet facing Rory. Looking at Rory, I say. “Rory, it’s not the Doctor’s fault that your fiancé ran off with him on your wedding night. The Doctor didn’t know.” I look over to the Doctor. “Doctor, there isn’t nothing wrong with inspiring people to do better. To make them want to impress you. That is on the other person, and it isn’t your fault.” The Doctor opens his mouth to argue, and I cover it with my hand. “Ah! I not finished. You’ve been posturing as well. I don’t care if you two never get along, but you are going to at least be civil with each other. Understood?” 

The Doctor nods, looking abashed. Rory stays quiet. I look at him, tilting my head to the side. I can tell that my face must be intense, because Rory leans back a bit. “Do I make myself clear?” I ask him again. 

“Ye-yes,” He stutters out. 

“Good.” I say, pleased. The Doctor’s tongue touches my palm and I squeal, removing my hand. “Uugh, what was that for?” 

The Doctor isn’t looking at me though, he’s focused on something in the darkness. 

“Who are you?” Comes the synchronized voices of several people. 

“We should run. Run!” The Doctor calls out. We take off in the opposite direction that the voices came from. 

The Doctor runs into a box, almost tripping and making a lot of noise. I wince and, predictably, two people run out and block our route. A woman with a large spiky collar and a pretty boy. 

“Cab for Amy Pond?” The Doctor asks, voice high. 

The woman laughs. “This rescue plan. Not exactly watertight, is it?”

The Doctor brandishes his light saber, “Ah Ha!” He exclaims, as it causes the vampires coming up behind us to back away. Amy and another girl runs in the corridor from the side. From the look of her, I’m going to assume that she’s Guido’s daughter, Isabella. 

“Rory!” Amy exclaims at the same time Rory yells, “Amy!”

“Quickly, through here!” Isabella demands. We all run down the corridor she disappears into. 

We make it to a door that has a staircase leading down. The Doctor closing the door behind us, and using his sonic to lock it. 

“They’re not vampires.” Amy says while descending. 

“What?” I ask. “What are they then?” 

“I saw them. I saw her. They’re not vampires, they’re aliens.” She ignores me and continues to look towards the Doctor. 

He laughs. “Classic.” 

Incredulously, Rory looks back at the Doctor. “That’s good news? What’s wrong with you people?” I yank on his arm and give him a look. Rory grimaces, but nods. 

“C’mon you two,” The Doctor calls. “Move.”

A noise from behind us lets us know that the alien vampires are closing in. The Doctor brandishes his light saber, driving them back. 

We hit a door and Isabella opens it. She stays there, making sure everyone gets a chance to leave. “C’mon,” The Doctor calls to her. I can see her move out towards us, but the sun stops her and I can already see what’s going to happen. Lunging, I fall short of actually touching her as the other vampires catch up and grab her, pulling her back into the corridor. 

The door shuts and I bang on it. “No! You helped us.” My hand brushes the metal on the door and my whole body goes rigid and electricity arcs. The last thing I see is the Doctor reaching for me as my eyes close. 

~

I come to awareness slowly. Opening my mouth, I croak out, “Y’know, I’m getting pretty tired of passing out.” Immediately, I feel someone come over and grab my hand. 

“Hello Mabel,” The Doctor says, voice close. A hand reaches up and brushes my hair back. A light flicker of contact, worry, concern, gratefulness that I’m awake. 

I open my eyes, and the Doctor slowly comes into blurry focus. “I didn’t get a huge headache that time!” The Doctor puts an arm around my shoulders and brings me into a sitting position. Grabbing the glass of water on the table, he brings it up to me letting me have small sips. “Thanks.” I croak when I’m finished. “Why do I feel like I got hit by a car again?”

“No, no car again. But you did get hit with enough volts to put down an elephant.” He informs me, less than pleased. 

I wince, but defend myself. “I had to try Doctor, she was the reason we went in there. And then she helped us escape.” My eyes itch as tears rise, and this time I don’t try to push them back. I’m under no delusion that they didn’t punish her. That she is most likely dead now. “That poor girl.” 

The Doctor pulls me into his arms and just holds me. Gripping his jacket again, I let myself cry for the girl who was lost. Understanding and comfort streams from his finger tips. 

Pulling back, I grab a tissue from the table beside me and wipe my face. I’m sure I look frightful now. “What happened after I got shocked?” 

“Quite a lot actually. We figured out they were fish aliens whose planet had died. So they flee through a crack in space and time and end up here. Rosanna, the women in charge, was the mother. She was the one who was transforming the women. It turns out that only the men had survived the trip. They were in the canal, waiting while mummy made them brides.” He grimaces, adjusting his position on the side of the bed. “Us messing about made her move up her plans. She had a machine that was going to sink the city. We managed to stop her.” Lowering his head, the Doctor closes his eyes. “But she took that as a personal failure and jumped into the canal while wearing the cloaking device. The men in the water didn’t recognize her, and she- well she died.” 

I reach out and touch his hand, trying to send comfort. His eyes open, and he attempts a smile. 

“You don’t have to smile all the time Doctor,” I inform him. “It’s okay to not be okay.” 

“Yeah.” He breaths out. 

Shifting, I try to move my legs so I can get off the bed. “Ow, ow, fuck.” I curse, as my muscles protest the treatment. “Why do I hurt so much?” 

Reaching down and ignoring my squawking, he picks me up and starts walking down the hallway. “What? Did you expect to just be able to walk it off?” He asks me wryly. “That was a lot of electricity that got pumped into you.” 

“I don’t know,” I grumble, cross. Realizing that even if I struggle he probably won’t let me go at the moment, I reach up and link my hands behind his neck. “Where are we going?” 

“The kitchen, I can hear your stomach trying to digest itself.” Looking down at me, he frowns. “When was the last time you ate anything?”

“I ate-,” My forehead scrunches up as I try to remember. “I don’t think I’ve eaten anything since I got hit by the car.” 

“Mabel!” The Doctor scolds me. “You can’t just not eat anything!” 

My face falls into a pout. “It’s not like I was doing it on purpose. Everytime I get some down time I either get distracted or I catch on fire and I’m somewhere new.” 

Sighing, he doesn’t respond. We enter the kitchen and the Doctor places me on a chair, going over to look into the refrigerator. 

Then the Doctor proceeds to make the most delicious omelet that I have ever tasted. “Where did you learn to cook so well?” I ask, an appropriate amount of awe in my voice for the amazingness of said omelet.

The Doctor rests his head on his hand. “Someone’s got to make sure you eat. And nothing makes you want to eat more than good food.” 

Flushing in embarrassment, I defend myself. “Hey! I like food okay?” 

He laughs at me, but not in a mean way. His eyes crinkle in what looks to be fondness. “I know.”

I finish my omelet, and lean back into the comfortable silence that we seem to have fallen into. The Doctor stares at me, and I stare back. “I’m not entirely sure what to do.” I admit to him. “I usually pop off by now.”

“Not always.” The Doctor informs me as he stands up and grabs my plate, ignoring my gesture to do it myself. Taking it over, he places it in sink and then turns back to me. “You can jump right after, or sometimes right in the middle of an adventure. But just as often you can stay for days, sometimes even months or years.” 

“Hopefully, I stay for a while this time.” I mutter.

And I do, I don't jump for a whole week. It lets me gain my strength back. I get to explore the Tardis! There are so many rooms. On the second day, the Doctor shows me the library, and then has to drag me away 11 hours later because I won't leave. Amy still ignores me, but she doesn't do it as obviously in front of the Doctor. Rory seemed to respect me now. He keeps his conversations civil with the Doctor. The Doctor doesn't try to show off as much in front of Rory either, so I would count that one as a win as well. 

It was on the seventh day, just as I was going to find the Doctor, that I felt the warmth start. I look down to see the orange flames start licking their way up my torso. “Doctor!” I yell out. “Doctor!”

There is a crash from the console room, and then the sound of running feet. The Doctor comes around the corner, his voice frantic. “Mabel?” 

“I’m leaving again.” I stare at him as he reaches over for me, pulling me into his arms. “I don’t want to go.” 

“It’ll be okay Mabel.” He presses a kiss to my forehead. “Wherever you go, you'll be with me.” 

The heat rises, flames now surrounding me fully. My vision goes white and I’m transported away again. 

I stumble as I feel my feet hit solid ground and frantically reach around me for something to grab onto. Arms wrap around me, and I rapidly blink, trying to clear my vision. “Doctor?” 

“Yes, hello Mabel.” A familiar voice speaks from behind me, welcome streaming from where his skin is touching mine. 

I turn my head and smile up at him, my vision finally returned to me. “Hello.” Concentrating, I try sending back welcome as well.

The Doctor beams back down at me, wearing the first face I ever saw him with. 

 

~  
An example of what Mabel looks like right now.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/155075920@N04/24182489757/in/dateposted-public/)


	4. Steamy kisses and confusing conversations (New Earth)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter fought me a bit. I'm still not entirely happy with it, but I'm going to post it anyways. 
> 
> To those of you that might think the Doctor is a bit out of character in this chapter, please don't freak out too much. 
> 
> I'm writing this with the knowledge that the Doctor has been in a relationship with Mabel for centuries from his point of view. You can't be together with someone for that long and not change in some ways. 
> 
> Also, when you are writing a story that follows the episodes as closely as this one does, just rewriting the episode isn't interesting at all. Adding a new character makes things change. Thus some dialogue is different from what you would expect, and things may happen in a different way. I'm doing my best to make this an engaging story. 
> 
> Any feedback would be welcome and appreciated. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> ~RainingCoffee

I turn around and hug him, squeezing tightly. The Doctor laughs lightly, “What’s all this about?”

“I’m just glad to see you.” I tell him. Reaching up, I ruffle his hair trying to make it stand up like I remember it doing before. He also seems to have a different suit on. Brown pinstripes this time, instead of blue.

He grimaces at me, “I just got my hair the way I like it.” 

“I like it like that.” I say to him, smirking. His face turns considering as he reaches up to lightly touch the spiky ends. 

Unexpectedly, he grabs me by the waist and spins me around pinning me against the console. The Doctor leans his face closer to mine, an intense look on his face. “So what do you think?” He asks me. 

Shifting uncomfortably, I clear my throat. “Wha-What do you mean?”

He leans back, and gestures to his body. “Brand new me, brand new Doctor. What do you think?” 

“Ohh,” I laugh nervously. “Honestly, I’ve only seen this you once before. I like the hair! You seem to have a bit of a mouth in this one, love to talk, but that isn’t anything different from any other body I’ve seen you have.” I scratch the side of my head, thinking. “I guess I’ll just have to get to know this you.” 

The Doctor smiles gently, cupping my face with one hand. He leans in and places a kiss to the corner of my mouth. 

The door opens and a girl runs in, large bag on her back. “So where are we going?” She asks before looking up and seeing the position we are in. “Eugh, haven’t I asked you guys to not do that in the console room?” She states rhetorically, face turning grumpy. 

The Doctor doesn’t look repentant, just smirks as he moves away and starts to press buttons on the console. I, on the other hand, am busy flushing bright red. The Doctor kissed me. The Doctor. Just kissed me. I cover my face with my hands. 

“Young one, yeah?” The girl asks, from right beside me. 

I lower my hands and glare at her balefully. “What are you talking about?” 

“Nothing.” Her amusement is thick in her voice as she responds. She looks over at the Doctor, who still has a smug smirk on his face. “He just loves doing it to throw you off, especially to a young you.” 

I continue to glare at both of them, my face falling into a pout. So it was just to mess with me huh. Funny joke. 

“To answer your question Rose, we are going further than we’ve ever gone before.” The Doctor pipes up, just before he presses the button that sends us off into space. 

I reach out and grab onto Rose, and she reaches out to grab the railing. The both of us just managing to stay on our feet. The Tardis makes the noise it does when it lands, and we grin at each other in excitement. I drop her hand and straighten my glasses, they had gotten knocked askew with all the shaking. 

The Doctor grabs a tan hero coat off of one of the coral struts and puts it on. Hurrying towards the doors he pulls them open, revealing blue skies and green grass. “It’s the year five billion and twenty three. We’re in the galaxy M87, and this? This is New Earth.”

Rose’s face lights up with delight. “That’s just. That’s just-“

“That’s just amazing.” I breath out, stunned. This is an alien planet. Not the moon, or even the past. An alien planet. 

“I’ll never get used to this,” Rose exclaims. “Never. Different ground beneath my feet, different sky.” She pauses, sniffing. “What’s that smell?” 

The Doctor bends over, grabbing some grass and bringing it up to show us. “Apple grass!” 

Laughing in disbelief, I look over at the Doctor. “This is an alien planet? A real live alien planet?” Grabbing his arm, I share my feelings of excitement with the idea. 

Over the week with the previous Doctor, we had been practicing with my emerging telepathy. I could now send short bursts of emotion, or thoughts, without the blinding pain I had first experienced. As long as the Doctor was gentle, I could also receive the same in return. The Doctor explained to me that sending and receiving these snapshots into their psyches was common place for his people. He looked sad after that, and I got the feeling that he wasn’t able to do that as much as he wanted to. Resolving to take that loneliness off his face, I doubled my efforts to communicate with him in this way. 

The Doctor looked down at me and nodded. I could feel his bemusement at my question before it turned to understanding, and the look in his eyes sharpened. “This is your first planet!” His mouth dropped open in surprise. 

“Yeah,” I confirm, looking around distractedly. There were flying cars coming from the city on the other side of the bay. 

I grab Rose’s arm too, and she smiles at me. “Let’s get a little closer?” I direct to both of them. They laugh at my excitement, but we all wander with linked arms down closer to the bay. 

The Doctor disengages my arm from his and takes his coat off, laying it on the ground. He gestures for us to sit. “So, the year five billion, the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted. The planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up, oh yeah they get all nostalgic, big revival movement, but then they find this place.” He nods out to the planet. “Same size as the Earth, same air, same orbit. Lovely. Call goes out, the humans move in.”

Intrigued, I ask. “So what’s the city called?”

“New New York.” The Doctor responds. 

“Oh, come on.” Rose says to him, clearly thinking he is joking. 

“It is!” He responds. “Strictly speaking, it’s the fifteenth Now York since the original, so that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York.” The Doctor pauses, noticing the look Rose is giving him. “What?”

“You’re so different.” She tells him. Must be referring to his new face. She doesn’t seem unhappy about it. 

The Doctor just smiles. “New New Doctor.” 

“Are we going to go visit it?” I ask, tilting my head to the side. My orange hair obscures my vision for a second, and I frown at it. As much as I loved the color, I had a feeling that I would probably be changing it soon. Maybe I’ll ask if we can go pick up some hair dye when I get back to the Tardis. The Doctor waves his hand in front of my face, getting my attention. 

“Huh?” Startled, I jerk back. Rose laughs over at me. 

“You spaced out there, must have been thinking about something serious.” She informs me. 

I can feel my face heat up in embarrassment. Ducking my head, I mutter. “Sorry, I was just thinking about my hair. The wind blew it in my face and I was thinking about changing the color.” 

The Doctor grabs a lock of orange hair and tugs on it. The look on his face is fond. “What color?” 

“Hmm,” I think about it. “I’m not sure yet.” 

“Anyways,” He says, dropping my hair. “I thought we might go there first.” The Doctor points at a pair of curved skyscrapers with green moons on the side.

“Why,” Rose asks. “What is it?”

“Some sort of hospital. Green moon on the side. That’s the universal symbol for hospitals.” He pulls the psychic paper from his pocket, showing it to us. Writing appears, ‘Ward 26, Please Come’. “I got this. Looks like someone wants to see us.” 

“Hmm. And I thought we were just sight-seeing.” Rose teases him. “Come on, then. Let’s go and buy some grapes.”

I wrinkle my nose. “Grapes?”

Rose looks over at me and nods, “Yeah. That’s what you take when you go visit someone at the hospital.”

“But, why grapes?” I’m so confused. 

She’s starting to look confused now too. “You just do?” 

I look over to the Doctor. He is turned away from us, hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter, but his shaking shoulders give him away. “I’m really confused right now.” I confess to both of them. 

Rose shakes her head. “I am too.” 

The Doctors shaking increases. I roll my eyes in exasperation. Linking arms with Rose, I say to her. “C’mon, let’s blow this popsicle stand. There seems to be grapes in our future, and a mysterious patient to visit.” We walk off, leaving the Doctor to his hysterics. 

“Oi!” I hear his voice from behind us. “Wait for me!” 

~

Entering the building, Rose comments. “Bit rich coming from you.” I nod in agreement. 

The Doctor rubs the back of his head uncomfortably. “I can’t help it. I don’t like hospitals. They give me the creeps.” Pouting around at the lobby of the hospital, he comments. “No shop. I like a little shop.” 

“I thought this far into the future, they’d have cured everything?” Rose asks. 

The Doctor tilts his head to the side. “Nah. The human race moves on, but so do the viruses. It’s an ongoing war.”

I shivered a bit. Ugh. I didn’t like hospitals either. 

Rose stops suddenly, a look of shock on her face. “They’re cats.”

“Now don’t stare,” The Doctor scolds lightly. “Think what you look like to them, all pink and yellow.” Pointing at a random piece of wall, he continues. “That’s where I’d put the shop. Right there.” 

We both walk into the elevator, but Rose is still out in the lobby. “Rose!” I call to her, getting her attention and causing her to hurry over to us. 

Unfortunately, the doors close before she gets there. “Hold on! Hold on!” She calls out to us. 

“Oh, too late. We’re going up.” The Doctor calls back to her. 

“It’s all right, there’s another lift.” Rose answers back. 

“Ward 26,” The Doctor directs to the ceiling, before raising his voice so Rose can hear. “And watch out for the disinfectant.”

“Watch out for what?” She asks him.

The Doctor reaches out and grabs my glasses, folding them and tucking them into his pocket. “The disinfectant!” He says again. I narrow my eyes at him. 

“The what?” I can hear her say faintly.

“The disin-. Oh you’ll find out.” He finishes. 

“Why did you do that for?” I ask him. 

Looking amused the Doctor doesn’t say anything. Water comes out of nowhere, drenching us. I sputter in surprise, flailing. Disinfectant huh. Glaring up at the Doctor, I shake my head in his direction hoping to get some of the liquid in my hair on him. His hand comes down on my head, pushing me away. “Oi!, That’s your disinfectant! Keep it on your side!” He teases, laughter in his voice. 

The elevator spits out white powder onto us, and this time I direct my dirty look up to the ceiling. Warm air blows, trying to dry us off. I can feel my face fall into grumpy lines. I never blow dry my hair, it always looks like a floofball if I try. The Doctor flaps his coat, letting the air blow onto his suit. He looks perfectly happy with the situation. 

Seeing a chance to mess with him, I grab the collar of his jacket with one hand. Leaning up, I press a kiss to the side of his mouth like he did to me earlier. While I’m doing this, my other hand comes up and spikes his hair. The Doctor must get a hint of my mischief from the contact because I can feel his amusement in response.

He pulls back and smirks at me. “You don’t have to think up an excuse to kiss me.” 

My face heats up, and I gape at him. “That’s not why I did it! I just wanted to spike your hair.” 

The Doctor reaches down and ruffles my hair, parting it so that there is more on one side then the other. His face is fond as he says. “I don’t believe you.”

Batting his hand away, I insist. “It’s true!” 

“Mh hm.” The Doctor hums, smug smirk still on his face as he reaches into his pocket to retrieve my glasses. He hands them to me, and I mutter a thanks. My face feels like it is on fire, I can only imagine how red I must be. 

The doors click open, and the Doctor swaggers out the open doors into the ward. 

I wipe my face roughly, cursing myself. That backfired on me spectacularly. I drop my hands, sighing. Time to see what’s going on here. I catch up to the Doctor in time to hear him say, “I doubt it. Petrifold Regression? He’s turning to stone. There won’t be a cure for oh, a thousand years? He might be about, but only as a statue.” 

A cat nurse assures him. “Have faith in the Sisterhood. But is there no one here you recognize? It’s unusual to visit without knowing the patient.”

The Doctor take a second to respond, eyes focused on a tank in next to the window. “No, I think I’ve found him.” 

The closer we get to the tank, the more I comprehend what I’m seeing. There is a giant face in the tank. It has tentacles coming off of it. This might be the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. 

“Novice Hame, if I can leave these gentlebeings in your care.” The cat nurse that escorted us directs her statement to the cat nurse sitting next to the head in the tank. 

Novice Hame nods to the nurse. As she turns to leave, the Doctor calls out to her. “Oh I think our friend got lost. Rose Tyler. Could you ask at reception?” 

“Certainly sir.” She responds to him.

Novice Hame speaks up softly. “I’m afraid the Face of Boe is asleep. That’s all he tends to do these days. Are you two friends or-“

“We met him just the once on Platform One.” The Doctor interjects. “What’s wrong with him?”

Novice Hame’s face scrunches in confusion. “I’m so sorry sir, I thought you knew. The Face of Boe is dying.”

“Of what?” The Doctor asks. 

“Old age.” Novice Hame states. “The one thing we can’t cure. He’s thousands of years old. Some people say millions, although that’s impossible.” 

“Oh, I don’t know. I like impossible.” The Doctor says softly, kneeling down and touching the glass of the Face’s of Boe’s tank. “I’m here. I look a bit different, but it’s me. It’s the Doctor.”

I leave them to their moment, moving instead to look out of the window. It really is beautiful here. Makes it even more sad that someone the Doctor knows is dying. 

Tilting my head to the side, I purse my lips in confusion. There is someone knocking on the doors to my mind. Glancing around, I don’t see the Doctor anywhere close so I doubt it’s him. I eye the Face of Boe in speculation. I send a tendril of thought out. ‘Is this you?’ 

Amusement, affirmation. ‘Yes.’ The Face of Boe’s voice drifts into my mind, though they still appear to be sleeping. 

‘I don’t think we’ve met, I’m Mabel.’ I tell him, or her. 

‘Mabel Falkov. We’ve met before. At least for me. Though that’s still to come for you in the future.’ He informs me. 

I feel a surge of annoyance at that. ‘Y’know, I’m really getting sick of people saying those words to me.’

‘I know.’ The Face of Boe states. ‘I also know that this next part is going to make you angry as well.’

Narrowing my eyes at him, I ask slowly. ‘What part?’

‘I have a message for you, from yourself.’ He tells me. ‘It goes, don’t be afraid.’

‘What kind of message is that?’ I say to him incredulously. ‘Don’t be afraid of what?’

The Face of Boe’s metal voice turns serious. ‘That is something that you need to figure out for yourself.’ They twitch, and I get a hint of melancholy from them. ‘It is good to see you so close to the end, old friend. I have missed you.’ 

The Doctor walks up, interrupting the conversation. He has a phone in his hand, and he doesn’t look happy. “What’s wrong?” I ask him. 

He frowns at me. “I’m not sure, something is off.” Rose walks into the ward and the Doctor heads over to speak with her. 

I look to the Face of Boe. ‘I look forward to meeting you in the future.’ He opens his eyes, and winks at me. 

Shaking my head, I laugh to myself as I walk over to join the Doctor and Rose. 

“I can’t Adam and Eve it.” Rose is saying to the Doctor. Uh, what?

“What’s, what’s, what’s with the voice?” The Doctor asks, his voice highly confused.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Rose states. Her voice is high and grating. “Just larking about. New Earth, new me.”

The Doctor laughs, but it doesn’t sound genuine. “Well, I can’t talk. New New Doctor.”

“Mmm,” Rose breaths out. “Aren’t you just.” Then she reaches up and grabs his face, bringing it down and kissing him hard. 

My mouth drops open in shock. I wasn’t expecting that. No wonder the Doctor had been laughing at me earlier. It seems kissing is something he does with most of the people he travels with. Well, I thought to myself, not that there is going to be much kissing from my end anymore. 

The Doctor finally seems to clue in to the fact that she is kissing him. Jerking back and away from her, face blank. 

“Terminal’s this way, Phew.” Rose states, walking back the way she came from in the first place. 

The Doctor swallows hard, running a hand through his hair. His hand hits the spikes I put in it earlier, and he winces. 

“Yeah.” I comment. “I think you are right, there is something weird going on here.” 

The Doctor turns and looks at me, face guilty. I wave the look away, it’s not like he owes me anything. 

He opens his mouth to say something, but I interrupt him. “We should probably follow her, and find out what’s going on.” 

The Doctor’s face falls into frustrated lines. He grabs my arm gently, and twists me back towards him. His other hand comes up to cradle my head. He leans down and brings his lips to mine and I gasp in surprise. The Doctor takes this as an invitation to deepen the kiss. His hand tilts my head back, the pressure of his fingers pressing in causing me to shiver.

He pulls back to rest his forehead against mine. From the touch of his fingers resting on my neck I can feel how serious he is. “I know this is early for you, but I need you to listen. This here, This is the only kiss that matters.” 

Flabbergasted, I open my mouth to argue. “I-“ The Doctor cuts me off with another kiss. “Wha-“ Kiss. “O-“ Kiss. 

Incensed, I cover his face with my hand and push him back. “Oi!” I bark at him. “I’ve barely known you two weeks, you can’t just say things like that! And kissing. You can’t just kiss me like that!” Looking over towards the area Rose went, I deflated. “We really don’t have time for this right now, but you better believe that we will be having more words about inappropriate kissing later!” 

The Doctor pulls my hand from his face, expression still serious. “Just so long as we actually have that conversation.” 

“Ugh!” I growled, moving down the hallway away from him. 

“What took you so long?” Rose’s unnaturally high voice grated in my ears. 

“There was a thing!” The Doctor’s cheery voice comes from behind us. He stops in front of the terminal and starts bringing up different specs. “Nope, nothing odd. Surgery, post-op, nano-denistry.” He shakes his head. “No sign of a shop. They should really have a shop.”

Rose brings herself closer to the terminal. “No, it's missing something else. When I was downstairs, those Nurse Cat Nuns were talking about Intensive Care. Where is it?”

The Doctor’s face turns serious. “You’re right, well done.” 

Rose continues, “Why would they hide a whole department? It’s got to be there somewhere. Search the subframe.” She demands. 

The Doctor looks at her suspiciously, while taking the sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket. “What if the subframes locked?”

Rolling her eyes, sounding impatient, Rose says. “Try the installation protocol!”

The Doctor nods, “Yeah. Of course.” He turns the screwdriver on and presses it to the screen. “Sorry. Hold on.” The whole wall slides down to reveal a passageway. 

“Jeeze,” I say, mostly to myself. “They really have the spooky corridors trick down, I wonder what’s going to be next.” Rose ignores that and walks into the hallway confidently. Something is definitely wrong here. 

“Intensive care. Certainly looks intensive.” The Doctor comments. Watching Rose walk into the corridor, he waits until she is almost out of sight before grabbing my hand and following her. 

“Hey, now.” I say, trying to get my hand back. “I don’t particularly want to be holding hands with you right now, especially after what happened earlier.” 

The Doctor tightens his grip, and murmurs lowly. “I know.” He sends me his impressions of earlier. How patients are miraculously recovering from deadly diseases. The fact that Rose had been gone for so long, and was now acting strange. She now had knowledge that she hadn’t had before. I could feel his anger at the thought of his companion being hurt in any way. 

My fingers twitched against his, but I sent back confirmation. I had noticed something odd too. Also, there was the fact that the Face of Boe called us here. They could communicate telepathically. Maybe someone was controlling Rose that way? They hadn’t seemed to be threatening, but then again I might not have been their target. 

The Doctor looks over at me sharply, I get a burst of annoyance. “Words.” He mouths to me, before dropping my hand. 

We walk down a staircase, and I gape up at the huge room we’ve found ourselves in. The whole place is lined with cells, ceiling to floor. There are thousands of them. I have a bad feeling about this. 

The Doctor walks over to a cell and opens it up. There is a man who looks very sick inside. 

“Oh my god.” I breath out. 

Rose’s nose wrinkles, and she insensitively states. “That’s disgusting. What’s wrong with him?”

The Doctor shakes his head. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He tells the man, as he closes his cell. He moves over to the next cell and opens that one. There is a sick looking woman in this one. 

“What disease is that?” Rose asks. 

“All of them,” He responds gravely. “Every single disease in the galaxy. They’ve been infected with everything.”

“What about us?” She asks. “Are we safe?”

“The air is sterile, just don’t touch them.” The Doctor states, as he closes the door on the woman too. 

Rose furrowed her brow. “How many patients are there?” 

The Doctor’s jaw twitches. “They’re not patients.” 

My stomach clenches with nausea. I can’t believe it. These poor people. Despite the fact that I wasn’t exactly the happiest with the Doctor right now, I reach out and grab his hand. Squeezing it hard, I bite my lip and blink rapidly to clear the tears from my eyes. His hand grips mine with the same intensity.

Rose doesn’t seem to understand. “But they’re sick.” 

“They were born sick. They’re meant to be sick. They exist to be sick. Lab rats.” He shakes his head. “No wonder the Sisters have got a cure for everything. They’ve built the ultimate research laboratory. A human farm!”

Rose lowers her voice. “Why don’t they just die?” 

“Plague carriers. The last to go.” He states. 

“It’s for the greater cause.” Novice Hame’s voice comes out of nowhere. 

“When you took your vows, did you agree to this?” He asks her, voice hard. 

“The Sisters have sworn to help.” Novice Hame explains. 

“What? By killing?” The Doctor’s eyes are cold and intent on her. 

Novice Hame seems confused. “But they’re not real people. They’re specially grown. They have no proper existence.” 

Now that, that is enough of that. Stepping forward, I open my mouth to yell at her. Before I can though, the Doctor yanks me back with our clasped hands. He sends patience, that he has a plan. I bite my lip hard enough for the taste of iron to fill my mouth, but I am able to step back even though I am eyeing her with contempt. 

The Doctor steps forward instead, dropping my hand. “What’s the turnover, hmm? Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousands? For how many years? How many!” He finishes by yelling at Novice Hame. The gull of that man, telling me not to yell at her and then ending up doing it himself. 

“Mankind needed us. They came to this planet with so many illnesses. We couldn't cope. We did try. We tried everything. We tried using clone-meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow, so the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are. Flesh.” Novice Hame tries to get us to understand. 

“These people are alive!” The Doctor spits out. 

Novice Hame attempts to justify herself. “But think of those Humans out there, healthy and happy, because of us.”

“That’s not okay.” I shake my head at her. “Do you really think that if those people out there knew what you were doing they would thank you? You are torturing people, experimenting on them. The amount of people who you saved are not worth the countless lives that you have thrown away because you deemed them not people!” I jerk my head to the side, clenching my teeth. I can feel my eyes widen, forehead scrunching as I get angrier. 

“Who are you to decide that?” Novice Hame asks me. 

Voice cold, the Doctor answers. “I’m the Doctor, and she is Mabel Falkov. And if you don’t like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, then there isn’t one. It stops with us.”

Rose leans forward and breaks the tension. “Just to confirm. None of the humans in the city actually know about this?”

Novice Hame nods. “We thought it best to not-“

The Doctor interjects. “Hold on. I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows. One thing I can't understand. What have you done to Rose?” 

Blinking in surprise, Novice Hame looks confused. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“And I'm being very, very calm. You want to be aware of that.” The Doctor warns her, voice taut with restraint. “Very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing. Whatever you've done to Rose's head, I want it reversed.”

“We haven’t done anything!” Novice Hame insists. 

Rose chimes in. “Yes, I'm perfectly fine.”

The Doctor isn’t convinced. “These people are dying, and Rose would care.” 

Rose rolls her eyes. “Oh, all right, clever clogs.” She reaches out and walks her fingers up his chest. “Smarty pants. Lady-killer.”

He turns concerned eyes to Rose. “What's happened to you?” He asks her. 

“I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body and your mind to find it out.” Rose explains. 

“Who are you?” I ask her. 

“The last human.” She breaths out. 

Incredulous the Doctor asks, “Cassandra?”

Pulling a bottle of something from her cleavage she sprays him in the face with it, causing him to fall to the ground. “Wake up and smell the perfume!” 

Lunging for her, I grab her hand with the bottle still in it. We both struggle back and forth, before she manages to kick my leg out from under me. Unstable, I start falling to the ground. Cassandra takes the opportunity and sprays me in the face with the perfume as well. And, for what seems the hundredth time since I’ve started this whole crazy jumping thing, I pass out. 

I wake up to muffled voices. I shift, confused to find that I seem to be standing up. “Mabel, Mabel!” I hear the Doctor’s voice in my ear. Something shifts next to my face and then suddenly I am wide awake and aware of the situation. I jerk back, but my hands seem to be tied behind the Doctors back, bringing us front to front. 

Suddenly the door opens, and the restraints are released. I dart out of the cell with the Doctor to see every diseased cell in the row opening as well. “What've you done?” The Doctor questions Cassandra. She had a man with her who had squiggles all over his face.

She turns and looks at him. “Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake them up. See you!” Then she turns and runs down the hallway. 

He goes to run after her, but stops and looks back at the cat nuns. “Don't touch them! Whatever you do, don't touch!” The Doctor orders, before dragging me down the hallway after Rose. 

We manage to catch up to her just as an electrical charge flows through the whole place. Every cell door I can see starts to open. 

“Oh my god.” Cassandra murmurs. 

“What the hell have you done?” The Doctor demands. 

Cassandra shakes her head. “It wasn’t me.” The diseased people start to surround us. 

Growling at her, his voice dark, The Doctor says. “One touch and you get every disease in the world, and I want that body safe, Cassandra. We've got to go down.” He nods to the only viable escape route. 

“But there’s thousands of them!” Cassandra whines.

“Run!” He shouts at her. “Down! Go down!”

She listens, and we are off, running again. We go down and down, round in a staircase. Eventually we come to basement area. Cassandra runs over to a lift, but the Doctor stops her. “No, the lifts have closed down. That's the quarantine. Nothing's moving.” 

Cassandra tilts her head, thinking, before she runs off in another direction. “This way!” She calls back to us. 

But we had made a mistake. No one had closed the door to the basement when we came in, and there were diseased people coming into the room. I skid to a stop, throwing out an arm and grabbing the guy with the squiggles before he can run into them. 

“Mabel!” The Doctor calls out in concern. “Hold on, we’ll find a way over.”

“Leave them,” Cassandra dismisses. 

Her companion, the one trapped on my side, calls out. “Mistress!”

The Doctor turns fierce eyes to Cassandra. “We are not leaving them!” He spits. 

More people shuffle into the corridor. My heart pounds in fear, but I try to smile. “Nah! You guys find a way out over there and we will find one over here.” 

The Doctor runs a hand over his face harshly. He shakes his head sharply, then looks at me. “You and I have a conversation to finish, so I better see you later Falkov.”

I nod at him, then grab my new companion and pull him away from the press of people coming in. 

“So what’s your name?” I ask him. 

“Chip.” He answers, breathless. 

“Well, you have any ideas Chip? Cause I have no idea where I’m going.” I tell him, matter of factly. 

He uses the grip I have on his arm and directs us over to a chute labeled waste. 

“Ughh,” I whine. “Is this really the only way?” 

He nods at me, and jumps into the chute. Hesitating, I look around but there doesn’t seem to be any other convenient escape avenues opening up to me. Grimacing the whole time, I lever myself up and jump into the chute. 

Then I’m falling. The sensation steals the breath from my chest, I don’t even have enough to scream. I am pleasantly surprised when, instead of landing in a vat of questionable substances, I land in what seems to be laundry instead. 

“Oh thank god.” I murmur as Chip comes over to help me up. “Alright, let’s go find a way out of here.” I say to Chip. ‘Here’ seems to be a sub-basement room. There are chutes coming in from several different points of the ceiling. I can faintly see a staircase in the distance, and start heading towards it. 

I notice that Chip isn’t following after me, and I look back at him in question. He shakes his head at me.

“I’m saving this body for my Mistress.” He informs me. 

“Understood.” I respond. “Keep yourself safe Chip.” 

I start jogging for the stairs, thinking. There has to be something that I can do somewhere. 

I make it up 10 floors before I find an exit door. I’m no longer jogging, I don’t know many people that could keep that pace up so many floors. I take the exit door and find myself in a service corridor, at least that’s what it looks like. 

I travel through the corridor, keeping an eye out for any movement. Hitting the end of the corridor, I’m confused to find a wall, and no exit door. “C’mon, there can’t be nothing here.” I mutter to myself. I spread my hands along the wall, feeling for an indentations or latches. My right hand hits something, and I press in. The wall slides up, revealing a ward. 

Walking into the room, I turn and look at the open corridor. Now just how am I supposed to close this now that the latch has scrolled into the ceiling with the rest of the wall? Frustrated, I kick the wall next to the corridor. A noise sounds out, and the wall scrolls back down. 

I look at the wall, and then down at my foot. Shrugging I head into the next room over where all the patients are. 

A woman notices me. “Hey you! Do you know what’s going on?”

“Yes,” I say, directing my attention to everyone in the room. “Long story short, there are diseased people walking around. They all look very sick, boils and things on their skin. Don’t let them touch you.”

Several people start to talk at once, voices raising. 

“Oi!” I interrupt, waiting for everyone to quiet down before continuing. “Getting freaked out isn’t going to help anything right now. I locked the entrance behind me, but I don’t know if there are any other entrances to this floor. If someone knows, can they check them and make sure they are closed?” Two people nod and run off. “Okay, is there anything I can help with here?”

A man nods, and gestures for me to come forward. I follow him, and proceed to start handing out the supplies that he has gathered. I let my mind wander as I hand out water packages, and blankets. I hope the Doctor and Cassandra/Rose managed to get out okay. 

I finish handing out the last water package in my pile, squeezing a woman’s shoulder in comfort as I walk by. I look up and notice the Doctor. He’s leaning up against a wall and smiling fondly at me. “You’re okay!” I exclaim. Deciding what the heck, I throw my arms around his neck. He laughs, high pitched and breathless, while wrapping his arms around me as well. His hold tightens and he picks me up, spinning me around. I shriek in surprise, struggling to put space between us. “Why are you wet?!” I yelp. 

Putting me down, he beams at me. “I mixed together intravenous solutions for every single disease. Using that, I was able to cure everyone!” 

My eyes widen in disbelief. “Everybody?”

“Yep.” He says, popping the p. 

“What about Rose and Cassandra?” I ask, concerned. 

His face flickers, some of the cheer leaving. “Rose is okay now, Cassandra left her body. The person who was taking care of her here, he offered his body for her to use.” 

I nod. “Yeah, Chip said he was saving it for her to use. I figured that was his choice.” 

The Doctor presses his lip into a line. “Chip is just a half-life, with all this running around his heart is giving out. Cassandra has a last request.” 

I smack him lightly on the arm, startling him. “Oi!” He turns his puppy dog eyes to me.

“What are we waiting for?” I say to him. “If her heart is giving out then we need to move fast. What are you doing wasting time coming to get me for?” 

“Mabel!” The Doctor whines, directing me to the lift. “Coming to find you isn’t wasting time at all. Plus, I was going to grab the Tardis and bring it back to when I just left them up there. Making it so that Cassandra has more time for her last request.” 

“Okay.” I’ll give him that one. “That was pretty thoughtful.” We reach the lift and the Doctor pulls out his sonic. He presses the button and does something to the lift. As we walk into it, I raise an eyebrow at him.

The Doctor shrugs. “I figured you didn’t want to go through the disinfectant shower again.” He leans down and ruffles his hair, getting the liquid in it all over me. Then leans out of the way of my retaliating swat. “Plus, you’re now inoculated to most diseases.” He says, grinning at me cheekily. 

I try to frown, but my lips twitch up into a smile instead. “You sir, are being very charming today.” 

“I’m always charming.” He assures me. 

I sigh. Biting my lip in hesitation, I contemplate between bringing up what happened earlier and not mentioning anything. Knowing the Doctor, he probably won’t let me forget it though. That’s probably the reason he came to get me before he went to get the Tardis, so we would have time to talk alone. 

I look up at the Doctor from under my eyelashes, to find him looking at me with a serious expression. 

“You would be right.” He confirms, as the lift doors open and we head across the lobby. “I’m not going to let it go.” I frown up at him. No fair, reading my mind. “I can’t help it when you are projecting everywhere.”

I try to look at him in the face, but my eyes skitter off to somewhere over his left ear. My cheeks and ears feel tight and hot. This is really rather embarrassing. 

“Look, I’m not entirely sure what to think.” I say, words coming out slow.

The Doctor focuses his full attention on me. “About what?”

“I haven’t been traveling with you for very long, but I’m not that oblivious. I know you care for me. You always look to me first in a situation, you listen when I speak, which I’ve noticed you don’t always do to others. And the kissing.” I stop trying to look at the Doctor and look out towards the bay instead. 

He hums encouragingly, and I feel his hand bump up against mine.

Looking down, I stare at his hand. He wiggles his fingers invitingly. “Like that, I want to take your hand. But then I feel bad, because you have expectations behind the action.” 

The Doctor stops abruptly, hand coming around my arm to stop me as well. His face is serious. “Expectations? What do you mean?”

I sigh again. “No matter where I jump, you always know more about me than I do about you. You aren’t exactly subtle, and you act like we’ve been together for a long time. And maybe we have, but I feel bad because I don’t have those feelings. At least not yet. Every time you hold my hand, or kiss me, I feel like I’m taking advantage because you are doing it for different reasons then I am.”

Chancing a look up at the Doctor, I am surprised to find a rueful look on his face. He runs his hand through his hair, and laughs a little. 

“I wanted to do a better job at this.” He tells me. “But it really is difficult.” He reaches out to grab my hand. “This doesn’t have to have any other connotations than you want it to have.” He looks down at me, face tender. “I can’t say a lot about my past concerning you, it has to be lived. I can, however, say this. Nothing is set in stone. Time can be rewritten. Never think that you don’t have a choice.” 

My mouth flaps open. I’m not entirely sure what to say. The Doctor laughs at my expression. “This body is turning out to be more flirty than some of my other ones. If I’m making you uncomfortable just tell me and I’ll stop.” 

The Doctor is still holding my hand. “I-I don’t know.” I can feel the heat travel across my face, as my blush reemerges. I try to pull my hand out of his, but he tightens his grip, leaning closer to me.

“Hmm, I think you might like it.” He teases me. 

“Shut up!” I cry, embarrassed. I bring up my other hand and cover my face with it hoping that the ground will come up and eat me. 

The Doctor laughs, deep from his chest. The sound is as happy as I’ve ever heard him. My face is still on fire, and I can feel my body temperature rising everywhere. Is it possible to blush with your whole body? Deciding to face my embarrassment head on, I take my hand from my face and open my eyes. 

The first thing I notice is the orange flames. The hand the Doctor is holding is on fire. Oh. I guess it’s not embarrassment making my body warm, but my weird orange flames that make me jump around. 

I tug on my hand. “Doctor.” 

He nods, face still showing signs of his previous humor. “Leaving then?” 

“Yeah.” I say, kinda sad. “I don’t want to go yet.” 

“It’ll be okay, wherever you go I’ll be there.” He says to me. My vision starts to white out, and the feeling of his hand disappears from mine.


	5. Down Time and a New Doctor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is shorter than my usual chapter length, but I promise I'll make it up to you in the next one. The next one is already at 10,000 words. 
> 
> Also in this chapter there is a brief mention of menstruation. If you don't like to read about it, then please don't read this chapter. 
> 
> Enjoy!

I reappear, and rapidly blink to try and clear the spots from my eyes. A gasp leaves my mouth when I’m actually able to see the room around me. “Oh my god.” I breathe out. I’m pretty sure that I’m in the Tardis, and the answering hum I hear confirms that, but I’ve never seen the Tardis like this before. 

There is a console in the center, but it is framed by 4 large metal struts arching into the air. There are bookshelves across the walls, and a table with two comfy chairs next to it. I look up and see the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. The ceiling is clear and filling the view is the brightest, clearest patch of stars I’ve ever seen. It’s so beautiful. 

I have no idea how long I stood and stared up at the slice of space, but I was broken from my reverie when I heard a shuffle from the corner of the room. I look over to find the Doctor once again leaning against a wall just staring at me, a fond look on his face.

“Doctor?” I ask hesitantly. 

He tilts his head to the side. “Your first time seeing this me?” 

I nod. 

“So what do you think?” He asks me, flaring his coat tails and placing his hands in his pocket. 

I take the opportunity to look him over. From the coat, to the vest, to the trousers, he looks like he has just stepped out of a Victorian novel. Add his curls, and his pretty face, and you get an overall pleasing picture. 

The Doctor starts fidgeting slightly, so I smile and put him out of his misery. “You look amazing.” 

He beams at me, apprehension falling away. “You’ve told me before that you like this body, but hearing it when you are this young is a nice surprise.”

I go to respond, but I’m cut off by a yawn. “Oh, I didn’t realize I was tired.”

“How long has it been since you’ve slept?” The Doctor asks, coming over and touching my arm gently. 

Scrunching my nose up, I try to think back. “Uh, about 20 hours or so. I really shouldn’t be that tired.” 

The Doctor doesn’t look convinced. “You should listen to your body. Sleep isn’t always something you get a chance to do.” He uses his grip on my arm to direct me into the hallway.

I shoot him a dirty look. “But I just met this you, I don’t want to jump in my sleep or something and not get a chance to get to know you.” I tried to make my voice normal, but I’m pretty sure that a whine slipped in there. 

“I promise you, that no matter where you wake up, you will still have a Doctor to get to know.” He tells me. I feel my face fall into a pout. The Doctor stops in front of my door, a gorgeous wooden thing with circular spirals on it. He gestures for me to go in. 

I hesitate, awkward. The Doctor has never walked me to my door beyond the day he had done so to show me my room in the first place. Am I supposed to do anything? I end up waving to him and smiling a bit awkwardly, before going into the room. 

I sigh. Now everything is awkward. It was fine when I was ignoring everything, but now that I’ve had that conversation with the Doctor it’s all been thrown out into the open. His voice teasing me. The ‘Hmm, I think you might like it’, still hums in my ears. 

Flopping onto the bed, I throw my arm over my burning face. Yes. Yes I liked it. 

It’s not like I’ve never been in a relationship with anyone before. But they had all been more about sex than any real attachment, well at least on the other persons side. Nothing had ever lasted over a year. 

To be under the focus of a man like the Doctor. To have his complete attention on me. It was sort of overwhelming. Like I told him earlier, it was obvious that he cared for me. I just didn’t know how much. 

He was good looking, I guess. His companions seemed to think so too, I couldn’t even be mad at them for kissing him. The thing that really gets me though, is that he doesn’t kiss them back. Two times I’ve jumped now, where his companion has kissed him. But he’s never kissed back, and he always seems really upset by me thinking that he did. 

I groan out loud. Ugh. Too many thoughts. Getting up, I pull a pair of pajamas from the closet and head to the bathroom to take a shower. 

I stay in the shower longer than I usually do, trying to sort out my whirling thoughts. But eventually, my fingers start to prune, and I have to get out. Drying off and putting my pajamas on, I head over and get into the bed. 

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because I wake up to my face being pressed up against the pillow and my arm dead asleep under me. 

I feel like crap. To emphasize the point my lower back twinges,. Uugh. I need tea or something. Maybe I can go find the tea that the Doctor keeps making me. It was really good. I roll off my bed, finding a pair of fluffy bunny slippers on the floor. I’m pretty sure they weren’t there before I went to sleep, but okay. 

I slip my feet into the slippers and head out of my room. I’m sure I must look a sight, fluffy bunny slippers and plaid pajamas on. I can feel the Tardis hum, amusement in her tone. “Kitchen?” I ask her, my voice plaintive. A door to my left opens up. “Thanks dear.” 

I head into the kitchen, and then stop. I’m suddenly hit with the realization that the Doctor has always been the one to cook something for me since I’ve been here, and I don’t really know where anything is. Sighing, I go over to the cupboards and start randomly opening them. My search yields a mug. I also find the tea bags, but I can’t reach them. 

I grumble. “Stupid tall aliens, putting tea bags on the top shelf.” I’m just about to jump up on the counter so I can grab them, when an arm reaches over my shoulder. Easily grabbing a tin of tea bags and placing them on the counter in front of me. I glare up at his smug face. Why does he always have to be so tall? “Thanks.” I grumpily say. At least it is the same face that I jumped to before I went to sleep.

I look down at the instructions on the tin, but I have no idea what they are trying to tell to me. It mentions machines that I’ve never heard of before. What’s a Vespnin 2000? I squint down at the tea container for a second, before I hear the Doctor sigh. He takes the tea tin from me and shoos me over toward the table to sit down. 

“You really are hopeless this early in the morning.” He murmurs to me. “I will make your tea.”

I really should protest, but on the other hand I really want my tea. I clear my throat in an attempt to make myself sound less grumpy. “Thank you. I don’t exactly know how to work the kitchen yet.” Nodding over at the toaster I can see on the counter, I continue. “If you can tell me where the bread is, I can make toast.” 

The Doctor points at a cupboard on the other side of the room that I had been looking in. I go over and grab the bread, finding toppings in the cupboard next to it. “Ooh.” I breath out, grabbing the peanut butter. “You want anything on yours?” I ask the Doctor. 

“Just butter, please.” He responds, looking highly concentrated as he pours the tea into a cup. 

I finish up with the toast and bring it over to the table, where the Doctor is waiting. 

“Here, breakfast of champions.” I tease, as I hand over his slices of toast. 

He murmurs a thank you and starts to eat. I eat a piece of my peanut butter toast, trying to ignore my aching back. 

“You should drink your tea before it cools. It loses some of it’s potency that way.” The Doctor informs me. 

“Huh?” I look up to him in confusion. 

“The tea helps with the pain.” He says, matter of factly. 

I stare at him for a second before it clicks. “Ugh, how did you know?” 

The Doctor tilts his head to the side. “Your hormonal levels have shifted, and your estrogen is on the rise. I also saw you rubbing your lower back earlier.” He shrugged. “That’s why I made you this particular type of tea. It helps reduce cramping and contains an iron supplement.” 

I pick up the mug and take a long sip of tea. Its not the most flavorful thing I’ve ever had, but if it does what he says it does then I’m not going to complain. “Your what, sense of smell maybe, is so strong that you can gage my hormonal levels?” 

“Yes.” He responds simply. Ah. Well then. 

I hum in response. “I feel like I should be creeped out, but you know what? I don’t even care. This is a very sweet gesture Doctor.” I nod at my mug.

The Doctors brow furrows in confusion. “How do you mean?”

He doesn’t even get it. I laugh. “Most men are completely terrified of periods. One hint of blood and they’re done, don’t even get me started on them freaking out over tampons or pads. But you, instead of freaking out, make me a tea specifically designed to help with my cycle.” 

The Doctor rolls his eyes, something I never would have thought this face would do. “I’ve never understood the human male attitude towards the female menstrual cycle. It’s basic biology.”

The fact that he understands fills my body with warmth. I look down at my tea, and continue to drinking it. Wouldn’t want it to go to waste after the Doctor made it specifically to help me. 

We finish our meal in silence, and I stand up to wash our dishes. The Doctor comes over to help. I wash and he dries. 

The Doctor interrupts my thoughts. “I’ve noticed you don’t seem to have your journal?” 

“What journal?” I ask him, confused. 

“Ah.” Is all that he says. “That’s something that we should fix.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Mkay. Also, I don’t happen to have any hair dye around do I?” I ruffle my hair, frowning at the orange strands I can see. “I think it’s time for a change.”

He nods at me. “Yes, you should have everything you need in your bathroom. I’m going to go grab something, meet me in the library in two hours?”

“I’ll try.” I tell him. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to do my hair.” 

He hums doubtfully, but nods and leaves the kitchen. 

I head back to my bathroom to look for my hair dye. Sure enough, there seems to be everything I need. Some kind of space beach, and space colors as well. They claim to be non fading, and will last as long as you want the color to be in. Handy that. At least the future is doing something right. 

I bleach my hair, and then go over to the colors to try to decide what I want. I’m reminded of Rory, telling me that I had black hair the last time he saw me. Maybe I should do that? It would be a more natural color too. I wouldn’t stick out as much if we traveled to the past. Mind made up, I apply the black. 

I head back into my room as I wait to be able to take off the hair dye. I don’t really feel like putting on normal clothes when I get out of the shower today. Searching through the clothes in the closet, I let out a whoop of victory when I come across a pair of leggings and an oversized hoodie. I throw them on the bed and jump into the shower to wash the hair dye out. 

I finish up in there, drying off and moisturizing, as well as attending to my sanitary needs Then I grab the clothes I threw on the bed and dress in them. Looking in the mirror, I ruffle my new hair. Not bad. A little dark. Frowning, I finger the strands. Darker than I’m used to. Maybe I’ll get a few bright scarfs. 

I head to the library with 20 minutes to spare. “Doctor?” I call, as I walk in. 

“Over here Mabel.” I hear from behind a stack of tall shelves. I turn the corner to see a huge fireplace crackling away. Two chairs are placed in front of it, the Doctor in one of them already reading a book. 

I sink down into the chair with a sigh of relief. It is heaven on my hips. The Doctor’s tea had helped immensely, I normally had cramps that left me curled up in a ball, but I was still sore. 

The Doctor looks up at me, and smiles. He reaches out and tugs on a section of my bangs. “I’ve always liked the black.” He tells me. 

I wrinkle my nose. “I’m not entirely sure about it yet. The orange was pretty bright, and this feels a little too dark. I was thinking about going and getting some bright scarfs.” I ramble, trying to distract myself from the fact that his hand is still on my hair. 

He pulls his hand back, and grabs a thin book from the table in front of us. “Here, this is for you.”

I take it from his hands, and flip it open to the middle. I was wrong, it wasn’t a book. It was a journal instead. Blank, and ready to be written in. “Oh!” I suddenly understand. “This is for me to write down where I am, and what I do. That way I’ll know what I can mostly say or not say. Right?” I close the journal, and look at the front with new eyes. It’s a deep grey color, with the same circular symbols that are on my door embossed in Tardis blue. “What do they mean?” I ask, tracing the symbols.

“Spoilers, dear.” He’s says fondly. “If you look in the front, you’ll notice I have pictures of all my faces. They are in order. That way no matter where you go, you will be able to recognize me.” 

I turn the front cover over and there are his faces. I use a finger to trace along the different pictures. From the old man that he has as his first face, to the current one who’s all curls. I have a feeling this isn’t something that he gives to all of the people he travels with. The feeling that thought gives me makes a smile come to my face. “I’ve only met you and this other face from this list.” I say, tapping my finger on his seventh incarnation. “Though I have met two different future yous.” I reach over and grab his hand, squeezing it. “I look forward to meeting the rest of you.” 

He turns his hand over in mine, so that I’m not so much squeezing it as we are now holding hands. I flush slightly, but tighten my fingers around his. I made the decision before I dyed my hair to be more open to this. I want to see how it progresses. 

Leaning forward, I grab a pen from the table. The Doctor settles in and opens his book once more. His right, and my left hand are still linked. I feel his thumb slowly rub against my skin. My flush persists. I chance a glace over at him, but he is absorbed in his book. 

I do my best to tune it out and start writing down the adventures that I’ve been on so far. Most of them I have to leave blank of which Doctor it was, I have no idea which future incarnations the big hair and bowtie were. I guess I’ll ask next time. 

I finish my writing and check on the Doctor. He seems to be enjoying his book so I leave him to it. Instead, I take the time to look out at what I can see of the rest of the room. It’s still boggling to me the sheer size of everything around me. 

Everything about this situation is still boggling. I’m half convinced that I’m going to wake up and all of this will have been a fever dream. The other part of me denies that. It knows that to much has happened. My pain has been real. 

The Doctor squeezing my hand catches my attention. Looking over, I see that he has finished his book. “Now is not the time to be thinking about those kinds of things Mabel.” 

“And what kinds of things should I be thinking about?” I ask him. 

The Doctor smiles, and leads me to a huge theater room. We end up watching movies and eating popcorn for most of the day. 

In fact, I end up staying with this Doctor for the longest time I’ve spent with a Doctor yet. Weeks pass, then months.

Sometimes we stay in the Tardis and just explore. We rediscovered the squash quart, the second swimming pool. A whole mountain range! We ended up going camping for a week. 

Other times the Doctor takes us somewhere. We went to a planet called Calderon Beta. It was known for it’s chip shops, but more importantly it was home to a four hundred foot tree. Apparently, from the top of that tree at a specific time and date, you could see more stars in the night sky from that tree then in any other point in history. It was gorgeous, and the chips weren’t bad either. We visited a race of two headed people called Aplans on the planet Alfava Metraxis. Everything was going fine until we somehow got in a four-way marriage with one of them. Then we had to do a runner at the altar. I don’t know if we’ll ever be welcomed back there!

We were perusing the market of Tiaanamat, in the asteroid belt of Akhaten, when I felt the familiar heat raising inside of me. “Doctor!” I called out to him. 

“Mabel?” The Doctor responds, looking up from the stall he is at. “Oh, you’re leaving.” He says, looking sad. 

I reach up and touch his face gently. “Don’t worry Doctor. You’ll have a me jump around eventually.” I can feel the fire burning higher and I know I’m going to jump soon. “See you soon!” And the world goes white.


	6. A long wait (The eleventh hour)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is probably the most fun I've had with a chapter so far. I loved writing it. Hopefully, you guys enjoy it as well. 
> 
> Happy Holidays everyone!
> 
> ~RainingCoffee

The first thing I see when I open my eyes is coral struts. Meaning I’ve jumped to the Doctor with the big hair and the flirty attitude. As I’m taking in the console room, the Tardis doors open and the Doctor staggers in. 

“Doctor!” I cry out, running over and supporting him before he falls. 

“Mabel.” The Doctor breaths out. “You’re here.”

“Yeah hun, I’m here.” His eyes seem unfocused and there is a sheen of sweat on his face. “What’s wrong. How can I help?”

The Doctor shakes his head. “Help me to the console?” 

I pull one of his arms over my shoulder and help him stumble his way over to the central console. He removes his arm from me, and uses his hands to brace himself on the coral. Taking a deep breath, he presses a few buttons, then pulls the lever that sends us into flight down. 

“Doctor. What’s going on, what happened?” I ask him. 

He grimaces, then tries to smile for me. “You promised me that you would be here when I came into the Tardis. You always know don’t you?” He looks down at his hand, which starts glowing with an orange light similar to the fire that makes me jump. 

I open my mouth to figure out what’s going on, but the look on his face stops me. His chin trembles, eyes filling with tears. “I don’t want to go.” The Doctor confesses. 

I take a step forward, but the Doctor explodes in orange flames. I hit the ground for my own safety. The coral struts are creaking around me. There is fire everywhere. The Doctor is screaming. 

Suddenly, it stops. I look up and instead of the Doctor with the great hear, it’s the bow tie Doctor. 

He gasps, grabbing onto his leg. “Legs. I've still got legs. Good. Arms. Hands. Ooo, fingers. Lots of fingers. Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose, I've had worse. Chin, blimey.” He reaches up and touches his hair. “Hair. I'm a girl!” His voice hits a high register, aghast. But he reaches down and feels at his neck until he registers his adams apple. “No. No. I'm not a girl. And still not ginger. And something else. Something important. I'm, I'm, I'm-“ Suddenly the Tardis lurches, making a god awful screeching noise. 

The Doctor laughs. “HA! Crashing!” He runs around the console, frantically pushing buttons. “Ha, ha! Whoo hoo hoo! Ah! Geronimo!” 

Oh my god. I knew, intellectually, that he changes bodies when he is severely hurt. But I had no idea this was how it happened. The Doctor had been screaming. I stumble my way over to the console. “Doctor.” 

The Doctor beams at me, manic, before he registers the look on my face. “Mabel?” He asks me, concern in his voice. I reach out with shaking fingers to touch his cheek. He leans into the touch. “What’s wrong?”

“You never told me it hurt you.” I say, having to swallow before I continue. “I knew you changed, but I didn’t know it hurt like that.” 

“Oh Mabel. Braveheart Mabel.” He ignores the sparking console and brings his mouth to mine. It’s a gentle kiss, more for comfort then passion. “I’m okay now, it doesn’t hurt anymore.” 

The tears in my eyes spill over, but I giggle in relief. I lean in to give him a hug but the Tardis suddenly pitches to the side. I slide towards the doors. The suddenly open doors. Shrieking, I manage to stop myself from falling all the way out by spreading my arms open. My legs are dangling out, and I chance a look. I instantly regret my decision. We are thousands of feet above London, spiraling and pitching uncontrollably. 

“Mabel!” I hear the Doctor’s voice call for me. 

“I’m here!” I yell back, trying to leverage my way back into the Tardis. I manage to swing one of my legs up and hook it around the door frame. With an impressive display of core strength, I pull myself into the doors, closing and locking them behind me. 

I run over to the console. “What can I do?” I ask, shouting to be heard. 

The Doctor looks up at me, eyes wide. “Nothing! There’s too much damage, we’re crashing!” 

The Tardis pitches violently again, and the Doctor is thrown into me. Gravity inverts itself and we are falling. Falling down the corridor, past bookshelves and into a swimming pool. I feel the Doctors hands grip under my arms and pull. We breach the top of the water with a gasp. 

I kick my feet to keep treading the water and look up. The Tardis is clearly on it’s side. The corridor to enter the library is now on the roof. I don’t know how the swimming pool ended up in the library, but I’m grateful for it. It saved us from splatting on the wall. 

Laughing breathlessly, I lean my head against the Doctors shoulder. “Would you look at that?” He exclaims. “The old girl is looking out for us, even when she is damaged.” 

“Yeah, she’s amazing.” I agree. “Let’s get out of the swimming pool and find our way back up there.” 

We swim to the side of the pool and get out. Then we start to look for anything to help us get back into the corridor. My search is somewhat hindered by the fact that the Doctor won’t let me go. I wiggle my fingers, but he just tightens his grip. 

The Doctor ends up finding a grappling hook of all things, and whoops in victory. He aims and manages to get one of the round wall holes in the corridor high above us. Pulling on it to make sure it’s secure, he gestures for me to go up. I grimace at him, but grip the rope. 

I’m really bad at this stuff. I always hated this when we did it in gym. I make my way up slowly, the Doctor right underneath me. We finally make it to the corridor, and from there it gets easy. There are indents in the wall, probably for decoration. They are only two or so feet away from each other, so it makes it easy to climb. After a few minutes of climbing, we make it to the console room. It’s still on fire, and the smoke is starting to build up. The console sparks sporadically. 

I pull myself the rest of the way up, then reach down and help the Doctor up. As soon as he gets his knees on the ground, he scoots the rest of his body onto mine. Every inch, from our shoulders to our hips are touching. “Doctor!” I gasp out. “I don’t think now is the best time.” 

He shakes his head, breath moving over my collarbone. “Not that, not now. I need the contact. Regeneration is rough on-“ He cuts himself off, visibly biting his tongue. 

“Doctor?” I ask him, trying to get him to look at me in the eye. “Doctor, you need to tell me how I can help you.” 

“I can’t,” He gasps out, pain in his voice. 

I reach out and cup his chin, not failing to notice the way he leans into the touch. “It has to do with your telepathy doesn’t it.” I look around the room. We can’t stay here. The fires are spreading and there are groaning noises coming from the bowels of the ship. “Look, I get spoilers and all that jazz. But at this point I couldn’t give a flying crap about them. Now you are going to tell me how the fuck I can help you, then we are going to get out of here. Understood?”

The Doctor squeezes his eyes shut and starts speaking slowly “There is a type of contact. My species, they can open channels with others. Telepathic channels between people. You’ve always had that type of open channel with me. Regeneration is difficult.” He swallows harshly. “I’m trying to reconnect with you, but this you hasn’t made that kind of connection with me.”

“You idiot!” I yell at him. “Make the connection then!” 

The Doctor’s eyes pop open, and he gapes at me. “What?” 

“You say that for as long as you’ve known me, I’ve always had that connection with you right?” I push his hair out of his eyes, trying to get him to understand. “Who’s to say that you don’t make that connection with me now?”

“But-But you don’t understand what you’re saying.” He stammers at me. 

“No I probably don’t.” I scowl at him. “I know you just gave me a pg version to try and keep me from spoilers. I’m also pretty sure that this connection has a bigger impact then you made it out to have. Am I right?” 

Gaping seems to be this Doctor’s default expression, considering the amount of it he’s been doing in my direction. “You-You” He seems to give up, letting his head fall back to my neck and laughing. “You’re right.” He sighs. “I can forge a shallow connection. It won’t be the full connection, that will be something that might come later if you decide you want it. The shallow connection will allow us to feel each other’s emotions, even when we aren’t touching. It should be enough.”

He grabs my hands and brings them up so they are touching the sides of his head. He does the same to me. I feel something shift in my mind, then it snaps into place. I can feel the Doctor’s pain, lessening now because of the contact we have. He sighs, I can feel his relief. 

The Doctor leans in, bringing his mouth to mine. His hand travels from the side of my head down my throat, and I shiver. Moving my hand to his hair, I thread my fingers through it and tug. He groans, I can feel his pleasure.

Suddenly the console sparks, some of the embers landing on us. I jerk my mouth back from his, breathing heavily. I can see how dilated his pupils are. “Wow.” I breath out. 

“Yeah.” He echoes. 

“Better now?” I ask, even though I can feel that it is. He nods. “Let’s get out of here then.” 

He stands up, hesitantly letting go of me. He waits a beat, but when his pain doesn’t come back he grabs for the grappling hook at his feet. Snapping his fingers causes the Tardis doors to open. He throws the hook up and out of the doors, yanking on the remaining rope to secure it. 

Looking back at me, he bows over the rope, gesturing me to go first. I roll my eyes at him, but start climbing up. It’s not as big of a climb as it was to get from the swimming pool to the corridor, so I guess that’s a blessing in disguise. I can feel the Doctor silently laugh at me. 

I make it to the open doors and grab onto the frame to help leverage myself up. What I wasn’t expecting was see a young girl looking at me as soon as I poke my head out over the opening. The Doctor sends me a feeling of curiosity in response to my spike of surprise. I don’t respond, but I climb up enough so I can hook my legs over the top and sit.

“Hello!” I say to the girl. 

“Hello.” She responds suspiciously. I smile. Smart girl.

“Who are you talking to?” The Doctor asks me, confused. His head clears the doorway, and he too seems startled to see a little girl standing there. “Oh.”

He leverages himself up to sit on the side as well. Looking back down towards the interior of the Tardis, he starts talking. “Whoa. Look at that!” 

The little girl narrows her eyes. “Are you two okay?”

The Doctor focuses on her, shifting so that both of his legs are hanging out the front of the box. “We’ve just had a fall. All the way down there, right to the library. Hell of a climb back up.”

She looks confused. “You’re soaking wet.” 

“We were in the swimming pool.” I inform her. 

“He said you were in the library.” She responds, voice full of disbelief. I look at the Doctor, trying not to smile. Precocious kids are the best. 

“So was the swimming pool.” He confirms, his amusement trickling to me. 

The little girl shakes her head. “Are you two policemen?” 

The Doctor turns serious, leaning in closer to the little girl. “Why? Did you call a policeman?”

The girl tilts her head to the side and answers his question with a question. “Did you come about the crack in my wall?”

The Doctor and I share a look. “What crack?” We ask in unison. His body convulses, I can feel that it’s more uncomfortable for him than painful. It’s enough for him to fall off the Tardis onto the ground. “Argh!”

“Doctor!” I jump down, kneeling behind him and placing a hand on his shoulder. 

“Are you alright mister?” The little girl asks him. 

“No, I'm fine. It's okay. This is all perfectly norm-“ He cuts off and breaths gold dust out of his mouth. 

Yeah, cause people normally breath out golden dust. He’s such a dork. 

The girl looks nonplussed. “Who are you?”

Leaning back, the Doctor smiles at her as his hands glow faintly. “I don't know yet. I'm still cooking. Does it scare you?”

She scrunches her face up. “No.” The girl says. “It just looks a bit weird.”

My face tries to twitch up into a smile, but I bite my cheek to stop it. She’s just too cute. 

Laughing faintly, the Doctor continues. “No, no, no. The crack in your wall. Does it scare you?”

For the first time since I’ve seen her, the girl looks scared. “Yes.” She responds seriously. 

Well then. Girl can talk to strangers who came out of a sideways smoking box. Strangers who talk about strange things and glow. But a crack in her wall is scary. I immediately make a decision to help this little girl. 

The Doctor jumps to his feet rapidly, causing the little girl to take a step back. “Well then, no time to lose. I'm the Doctor, this is Mabel. Do everything we tell you, don't ask stupid questions, and don't wander off.” He turns around and starts walking straight for a tree, but I lunge for his arm managing to stop him. “Early days. Steering’s a bit off.”

“C’mon you dork. Let’s get inside.” I adjust my grip on his arm, making it so that our arms are linked rather than me restraining him. I refocus on the girl. “What’s your name sweetheart?” 

She squints a bit suspiciously, but I can see that she’s starting to warm up to us. “Amelia Pond.” 

“Amelia Pond!” I beam at her. “That’s an amazing name.”

The Doctor chimes in. “Like a name in a fairy tale!” 

“Well then Amelia Pond, would we be able to get some towels?” I ask, ruffling my wet hair ruefully. “Also, could we get some food. I can practically feel his stomach growling from over here.” Leaving out the part where I actually can feel that he is hungry. Like incredibly hungry. 

She nods, and runs for the inside of the house. We follow behind, a little slower. The Doctor’s feet are still a little unsteady. I glance over at him. “I’m concerned about this crack in her wall.”

He nods. “Yes, me too.” He briefly stops for another spasm. Breathing out before continuing. “I want to take a look at it before we leave.”

Concerned, I purse my lips. “Is there anything I need to be aware of?” I ask him. “You keep having aftershocks. I can tell they aren’t painful, but I want to know if there is anything I can do to help.” 

He smiles at me fondly. “You’re already helping Mabel. Just keep doing what you always do.”

What kind of answer is that? I send him a look. “You are such a sap.” 

He laughs lightly. “Yeah. I guess I am.” 

We make it to the front door, and little Amelia comes running back with towels. I take them with a murmur of thanks. Handing the Doctor one, I start drying off. He does a brief run through over his hair, but then rests the towel on his shoulders. 

“Can I have an apple? All I can think about right now is apples.” He asks Amelia. 

She shrugs, but goes and brings him back one. He takes a bite out of it, and immediately spits it out all over the floor. 

“Hey!” I scold him, but he ignores me. 

Focusing on Amelia, his face intense. “That's disgusting. What is that?”

“An apple.” She responds, confused.

He grimaces. “Apples are rubbish. I hate apples. I like yoghurt. Yoghurt's my favorite. Give me yoghurt.” 

Amelia runs off as I smack him in the chest. “Hey caveman. You have manners, you need to use them.” 

He continues to ignore me, and grabs the container of yogurt that Amelia hands to him. Tipping it into his mouth, he has the same reaction that he had with the apple. It flies out of his mouth and smacks on the ground with a splatting noise. “I hate yoghurt. It's just stuff with bits in.”

Face disgusted, Amelia argues with him. “You said it was your favorite.”

He wipes at the yogurt around his mouth. “New mouth. New rules. It's like eating after cleaning your teeth. Everything tastes wrong. Argh!” His body convulses, and he brings his hand up to smack at his forehead.

Amelia hesitates for a second before asking. “What is it? What's wrong with you?”

The Doctor stares down at her. “Wrong with me? It's not my fault. Why can't you give me any decent food? You're Scottish. Fry something!”

I raise my hand, and shove it into his face. “No.” I say to both of them. Pointing at the flailing Doctor I start with him. “You! You are going to clean up this mess on the floor, then you are going to sit down at the table and wait for me to fry you up something. You are not having a 6 year old girl work a stove by herself.”

Amelia looks unimpressed. “I’m seven.” She tells me. 

I nod at her. “Seven then, you still aren’t going to use the stove while there’s a perfectly capable adult around to do it for you. Why don’t you grab your favorite food and join that sap when he’s finished cleaning up after himself.” I gesture at the Doctor, who’s on his knees wiping at the floor with a towel. He’s grumbling, but I can feel that’s he’s not really upset. 

I busy myself at the stove. Considering the reaction he had to the other food, I was going to guess that he would go through a couple different types before he was satisfied. Keeping that in mind, I fried up some beans and bacon. I even buttered up a piece of toast. 

I bring the items over for the Doctor, but before I place the plates in front of him I give him a stern look. “No more spitting things out into the floor. If you don’t like I will finish it.” 

The Doctor has a look of incredible patience on his face. “Yes dear, can I eat now?”

Placing his plates in front of him, I nod, ignoring his sass. He makes a face at both the beans and the bacon, but the bread seems to have mortally offended him seeing as he decides to throw the plate, bread and all, outside. 

“We got some carrots?” Amelia offers. 

The Doctor looks at her like she just said the stupidest thing he’s ever heard. “Carrots? Are you insane? No. Wait. Hang on. I know what I need.” He runs over to the refrigerator and opens the freezer portion, rummaging around. “I need, I need, I need fish fingers and custard.”

At this point I make a face. Fish fingers and custard? Ugh. I’m fine with leftover beans and bacon, thanks. He bakes the fish fingers and then comes to the table to eat with me and Amelia. He dips his fish fingers in the bowl of custard, enjoying the taste. 

Amelia giggles at him. “Funny.”

“Am I?” He asks. “Good. Funny's good.” He stares at her for a second. “Are we in Scotland, Amelia?”

“No.” Amelia scoffs. “We had to move to England. It's rubbish.”

I lean forward. Now that everyone is settled it’s time to ask the question that’s been bugging me for a bit now. “So what about your mom and dad? Are they upstairs? I’d have thought we would have woken them by now.” 

She shakes her head. “I don’t have a mom and dad. Just an Aunt.”

“Okay, so is your aunt upstairs?” The Doctor interjects. 

“Nah,” Amelia denies. “She’s out.” 

The Doctor and I exchange another look. “And she’s left you all alone?” He asks, upset. 

She rolls her eyes. “I’m not scared.” 

“Course your not scared.” I say to her. “You’re not scared of anything. Box falls from sky. People fall out of box. Just look at you. You’re sitting there, cool as can be. So you know what I think?”

Amelia narrows her eyes at me. “What?” She asks. 

The Doctor leans forward a bit. “Must be one hell of a scary crack in your wall.” 

Her face falls. I can see that she is still upset about it. 

I nod decisively. “Wanna show us this crack now, Amelia?”

She nods a little meekly. The Doctor finishes his last fish finger, then gets to his feet, stretching. We follow Amelia up the stairs and into what is very evidently her room. There is a long jagged crack in the wall. 

Rushing over to it, the Doctor starts touching the wall around the crack. “You've had some cowboys in here. Not actual cowboys, though that can happen.” He says. 

Amelia comes into the room, looking down at the apple that she has in her hand. It has a smiley face carved into it. “I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces on them.” She reaches out and offers it to the Doctor. 

He takes it, throwing it up into the air and catching it, then puts it in his pocket. “She sounds good, your mum. I'll keep it for later.” He refocuses on the crack. “This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's a thing. Where's the draft coming from?” Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, he scans it. 

He finishes the scan, bringing the screwdriver up to his face. “Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey. You know what the crack is?”

“What?” Amelia asks. 

Looking surprised, The Doctor continues. “It's a crack. But I'll tell you something funny. If you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, because the crack isn't in the wall.”

Confused, Amelia looks up at him. “Where is it then?” 

“Everywhere. In everything. It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together right here in the wall of your bedroom.” The Doctor presses his ear up to the crack, before pulling back in surprise. “Sometimes, can you hear?”

“A voice? Yes.” Amelia responds, voice low. 

A low groaning noise comes through the wall. The Doctor grimaces. From the frustration blooming from his mind, I can tell he isn’t able to hear as well as he wants. Looking around I notice a glass on Amelia’s bedside table. I grab the cup, dumping the water, and hand it to the Doctor just as he whirls around for something. “Thanks dear.” He tells me, taking the cup and pressing it against the wall. “Prisoner Zero-“ The Doctor starts. 

“Prisoner zero has escaped.” Amelia finishes. “That's what I heard. What does it mean?” 

He pulls back from the wall. “It means that on the other side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner. And you know what that means?”

“What?” Amelia asks. 

“You need a better wall.” The Doctor grabs the desk in front of the wall and drags it away so he has more room. “The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut. Or-“ He cuts himself off, looking over at her guiltily. 

She swallows. “What?”

He pauses, staring at her. “You know when grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?” 

Rolling her eyes, Amelia lets out a longsuffering yes. 

The Doctor holds out his hand for her, and widens his eyes. “Everything's going to be fine.” She takes his hand. I come over and place a hand on both of their shoulders, feeling fond. The Doctor is rather good with children. He looks over his shoulder and smirks at me for a second before refocusing on the wall. He points his sonic screwdriver at the crack and activates it. 

The crack widens. Light floods into the room. “Hello?” The Doctor calls out. Nothing happens for a couple of seconds but then a giant eye zips over and starts looking through the crack, startling us.

“What’s that?” Amelia whispers. A bolt of blue light flies through the crack, hitting the doctor in the hip and making him fall over. The crack groans and then creaks shut. 

The Doctor laughs breathlessly. “There, you see? Told you it would close. Good as new.”

She shakes her head. “What's that thing? Was that Prisoner Zero?” 

“No.” The Doctor refutes. “I think that was Prisoner Zero's guard. Whatever it was, it sent me a message.” He pulls the psychic paper from his pocket and shakes it for a second. “Psychic paper. Takes a lovely little message.” Looking down, he finally reads what’s on the paper. “Prisoner Zero has escaped. But why tell us? Unless.”

I look at him sharply. “Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here.” 

“But he couldn’t have, we’d know.” He tells me, stalking back into the landing. He makes a noise of frustration. “It's difficult. Brand new me. Nothing works yet. But there's something I'm missing.” Slowly, he turns his head. “In the corner of my eye.” 

Before anything can happen, I hear the Tardis make a gong noise. Panic crosses the Doctor’s face and he takes off down the stair case. “No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!”

He takes off through the garden where the Tardis is still on her side. Grabbing the grappling hook he starts threading it through the doors. “I’ve got to get back in there. The engines are phasing. It’s going to burn!”

“But it’s just a box. How can a box have engines?” Amelia asks him. 

Still busy, he responds. “It's not a box. It's a time machine.” 

She scoffs. “What, a real one? You've got a real time machine?” 

“Not for much longer if I can't get her stabilized. Five minute hop into the future should do it.” He tells her while throwing the extra rope in through the doors. 

Amelia bites her lip. “Can I come?” She asks, voice shy. Oh sweetie. 

He shakes his head, climbing up onto the side of the Tardis. “Not safe in here. Not yet. Five minutes. Give me five minutes, I'll be right back.”

Amelia’s face falls. “People always say that.” That seems to get his attention. He looks over to her properly for the first time since the Tardis gonged. Pulling his feet up and out of the interior, he climbs down and kneels in front of her. 

“Am I people?” He asks her. “Do I even look like people? Trust me. I'm the Doctor.” She smiles at him and he backs up towards the Tardis. Jumping up, he immediately grabs the rope and falls down into the depths of the interior. “Geronimo!”

“Hey! Doctor! Wait for me!” I cry, lunging for the side of the box. I hear a faint splash, and the doors slam closed. The Tardis starts to dematerialize. I gape at the disappearing box. He’s just left me here.

I feel a tug on the bottom of my shirt. “Don’t worry.“ Amelia says, smiling up at me. “He said he’d be back in five minutes.” Easy for her to say, she doesn’t know what a crappy driver he is. 

Regardless, I follow her back into the house. She runs to her room to do something, but I clean up the kitchen from the mess we’ve made of it. Around ten minutes later, Amelia comes down with a little red suitcase, all ready to go. She runs out to the garden, sets her suitcase down and waits for the Doctor. 

I frown. It’s been more than five minutes. I also don’t like the fact that prisoner zero might be somewhere in this house. I search around, trying to find any clues but nothing jumps out at me. Deciding to go check outside, I find Amelia asleep on her suitcase. Poor girl must have tuckered herself out with all the excitement. 

I pick her up and bring her inside. Carrying her to her bed and tucking her in. I go back out and grab her suitcase, placing it under her bed. It’s getting earlier, her aunt is probably going to come back home at some point, so I can’t stay. I have no idea how I’d be able to explain everything without getting thrown in jail. I’m just about to leave, but I hesitate. I can’t leave without letting Amelia know that this wasn’t a dream. I find a sticky note pack on her desk. I grab a pen and write out, ‘He’ll be back at some point. <3 from space.’, tacking it up on her mirror for her to find later. 

Then I start the process of figuring out what the heck I’m going to do. 

I hang around rather close for the first couple of days. I’m in the woods mostly, there’s a stream and I find some berries that work for food. When it becomes clear that the Doctor isn’t going to show up, and that I’m not going to jump away, I start trying to figure out living situations. I can’t live in the woods forever. There are several issues with this though. 

I only have the clothes on my back. I don’t have my wallet, and falling into the pool had killed my phone. I managed to filch a newspaper from the trash and was dismayed to find that it was 1996. Even if I were to somehow find my way back to the United States I wouldn’t be able to do anything. Time wise, I was three years old at the moment. 

It was tough, and it took a lot of sleeping on park benches and washing dishes for meals, but I managed to find myself a steady job. 

After a year of hanging around Leadworth, I finally saw Amelia again. We ended up having a very hushed conversation about what had happened. She gave me the silent treatment for months, but I think she eventually realized that the Doctor didn’t just leave her here too. Once she started talking to me, I got roped into babysitting her and her friends more often than not. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but it wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened to me. 

Time passed and I stopped waiting for the Doctor to show up. I was angry with him at first. For lying, for leaving me here. But eventually, my anger cooled into resignation. There wasn’t much I could do about it. 

Eventually I was able to look on our adventures with fondness. I only traveled with him for around five months, but I had seen all kinds of wonders. It had been so easy to get swept up in the magic. Looking back on our interactions, I wondered if maybe I had just been looking to much into his actions. People see what they want to see after all. Maybe he knew he would be leaving me here, and had tried to make our adventures as fun as possible. 

As Amelia grew up, I was struck by the resemblance between her and the Amy that I met in the Doctor’s future. There was also the fact that she had a friend named Rory. The day she started demanding to be called Amy really sunk it home. She does get to travel with her fairytale man from the stars after all.

Six years after I got stuck in Leadworth, I made an investment. Bought a little newspaper shop in the heart of town. We sold little odds and ends, kind of like a convenience store. It wasn’t much, but I worked hard and made enough to live comfortably. 

Life continued, until one day the radio at work started repeating the same thing over and over again. “Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated.” I frowned at the radio. Prisoner Zero was the creature that had escaped through Amelia’s wall. Closing up the shop, I headed out into the main park square, making my way quickly towards Amy’s house. 

I was distracted by a flash of red, and looked over. Amy was walking down the lane wearing her kissagram police officer outfit, arguing with a raggedy looking man. Oh. Not just a raggedy man, the Doctor. It was the Doctor!

My chest clenched in pain. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen him. Almost in reaction to that, he snaps his head up and focusses on me. There was a second where nobody moved, but then he was running towards me. Faster than I’ve ever seen him run. 

The Doctor crashes into me, not even attempting to stop. His arms crush me to him, desperation in every line. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He breathes into my neck. “I promise it was just supposed to be five minutes.” He pulls back to look at me, eyes pausing around my mouth and eyes. “Twelve years.”

I shift uncomfortably. “Hello Doctor.” He doesn’t seem to hear me. Reaching up, he touches the lines I know that are around my eyes. I jerk my head back, starting to get angry. “Oi!”

“Twelve years.” He repeats, sounding sad. 

“Yes,” I reply, annoyed. “I’m well aware of that.” I shift in his arms again. “Can you let me go, Please?”

The Doctor slowly removes him arms from around me. He stares into my eyes in a way that reminds me that he’s not human. Like he’s seeing inside of me. Oh, Oh! I had actually forgotten about the connection he had formed all those years ago. He probably can see inside of me. I clamp down hard on my emotions, throwing them in a metaphorical box and closing the lid. He winces and opens his mouth to say something but he gets interrupted.

“Hem, Hem.” Amy says from beside us. “I think we have bigger things to deal with right now, like oh I don’t know, alien shapeshifters and giant eyes threatening to burn the Earth.”

I nod, looking over to the Doctor. “Doctor? She has a point.” 

He purses his lips, face falling into frustrated lines. “I suppose she does.” 

Suddenly the sky above us goes dark. “What?” Amy says in disbelief. “What's happening? What’s wrong with the sun?” 

The Doctor’s face is serious. “Nothing. You're looking at it through a forcefield. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere. Now they're getting ready to boil the planet.” He looks out at the people in the park. They’re all pointing their phones up to the sky, taking pictures. “Oh, and here they come. The human race. The end comes, as it was always going to, down a video phone.”

Amy shakes her head. “This isn’t real is it? This is some kind of big wind up.” 

I look over at her. “Oh Amy, you know better than that.” 

“Oh!” The Doctor exclaims, reaching up and smacking himself in the head. “No. Hang on. Shut up. Wait. I missed it. I saw it and I missed it. What did I see? I saw. What did I see? I saw, I saw, I saw-“ He trails off, eyes going distant before he refocuses on us. “Twenty minutes. I can do it. Twenty minutes, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help me.” 

Amy glares at him. “No.” 

The Doctor falters. “I’m sorry?” 

I silently laugh at him. He’s not used to people telling him no I guess. But that’s Amy for you. Good on her. She’s worked hard to get past what’s happened. 

Amy continues. “I know what I’ve heard about you. The Doctor. Healer and wise man. The man who saves civilizations.” She pokes him in the chest violently. “But really, who are you?” 

“I'm the Doctor. I'm a time traveler. Everything I told you twelve years ago is true. What's happening to the sky is real, and I’m going to do my best to stop it.” He tells her, but even I can see that’s she’s unconvinced. “Just twenty minutes. Just believe me for twenty minutes.” The Doctor pulls the apple that little Amelia gave him twelve years ago. “Look at it. Fresh as the day you gave it to me. And you know it's the same one. Amy, believe for twenty minutes.”

Amy spins away from him, rubbing her hands over her face. “Fine, okay. What do we do?” 

The Doctor beams. “Follow that nurse!” He yells as he takes off into the park, us trailing after him. 

He runs right up to Rory and grabs his phone. “The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?”

Rory twitches. “Amy, Mabel?”

“Hello Rory.” I smile at him. 

Amy half grimaces in his direction. “Hi! Oh, this is Rory, he's a friend.” She directs to the Doctor. 

“Boyfriend.” Rory clarifies. 

“Kind of boyfriend.” Amy is quick to correct. Oh Amy. 

The Doctor ignores her. “Man and dog. Why?”

Rory gapes at him. Finally seeming to notice the clothes. “Oh my God, it's him.”

Amy’s impatience boils over. “Just answer him, please.” 

Pointing at the Doctor, Rory continues. “It's him, though. The Doctor. The Raggedy Doctor.”

I nod. “Yep.” Popping the p. 

“But he was a story. He was a game.” Rory looks so very confused. 

The Doctor grabs Rory and shakes him a bit. “Man and dog. Why? Tell me now.”

“Sorry.” Rory stutters. “Because he can't be there. Because he's-“ and the Doctor mouths the next words with him. “In a hospital. In a coma.” 

“Yeah.” Rory finishes. 

The Doctor releases Rory’s shirt and leans back pleased with himself. “Knew it. Multiform, you see? Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed. A psychic link with a living but dormant mind.”

The sound of barking comes from behind us, making us all jump and turn. There’s a man, holding a leash to a dog. Would be a pretty normal sight. But the barking noises are coming from the man as well as the dog. 

“Prisoner Zero.” The Doctor informs me. A ship with an eyeball in it flies in and starts scanning around. I hear Rory in the background asking about prisoner zero, but the Doctor starts talking and I miss out on Amy’s reply. “See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver.” He lifts his screwdriver up into the air and starts making everything go haywire. Car alarms go off, vehicles start driving on their own. Streetlights are exploding. 

“I think someone’s going to notice, don’t you?” He directs to Prisoner Zero before he points his screwdriver at a red telephone box closest to the multiform. It explodes, but so does the screwdriver in the Doctors hand. “No, no! No, don't do that!” He cries to the piece of ruined technology. 

The eye spaceship zooms off. Rory comments on the fact that it’s leaving and the Doctor looks up, panicked. “No, come back. He's here! Come back! He's here. Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero is-“ 

Amy cuts him off. “Doctor! The drain. It just sort of melted and went down the drain.”

The Doctor scoffs, frustrated. “Well, of course it did.” 

I smack his arm and give him a warning glare. Just because he’s upset doesn’t mean that he gets to take it out on us. 

“What do we do now?” Amy asks. 

The Doctor grimaces, but makes his tone less snappish. “It's hiding in human form. We need to drive it into the open. No Tardis, no screwdriver, seventeen minutes. Come on, think. Think!” He yells at himself. 

Amy sighs. “So that thing, that hid in my house for twelve years?”

My head snaps over to look at her. “It was in your house?” I asked, voice shrill. 

The Doctor winces briefly, then looks at me in confusion. “Multiforms can live for millennia. Twelve years is a pit-stop.” Oh god. It was in her house the whole time and I never knew. It could have killed her at any point. My stomach feels like it drops to my feet. 

Amy narrows her eyes at the Doctor. “So how come you show up again on the same day that lot do? The same minute!”

The Doctor shakes his head at her accusations. “They're looking for him, but they followed me. They saw me through the crack, got a fix, they're only late because I am.”

“What’s he on about?” Rory asks incredulously. I honestly don’t blame him. I remember how I felt when I first met the Doctor and he started spouting off. 

The Doctor focusses back on Rory. “Nurse boy, give me your phone.” He holds a hand out in preparation. 

Instead of giving him the phone Rory looks to me and Amy. “How can he be real? He was never real.” 

“Phone. Now. Give me.” The Doctor interrupts, looking highly impatient. 

Rory finally hands it over, but not before he starts grumbling. “He was just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as him.” 

The Doctor scrolls through Rory’s phone. Going into the gallery, he sees pictures of several different people. “These photos, they're are all coma patients?” He asks Rory. 

“Yeah.” Rory says. 

The Doctor raises a finger in Rory’s direction. “No, they're all the multiform. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero.”

Amy’s face scrunches up in confusion. “He had a dog though. There’s a dog in a coma?”

His head tilts a bit. “Well, the coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog.” The Doctor’s expression lightens. “Laptop! Your friend, what was his name? Not him, the good-looking one.”

Deadpan, Rory responds. “Thanks.”

Amy’s eyes flicker to Rory before she focuses on the Doctor. “Jeff.”

Looking contemplative, the Doctor starts rambling. “He had a laptop in his bag. A laptop. Big bag, big laptop. I need Jeff's laptop.” Pointing at Amy and Rory, he continues. “You two, get to the hospital. Get everyone out of that ward. Clear the whole floor. Phone me when you're done.” Then he takes off, grabbing my hand and pulling me with him.

“Hey!” I object, trying to free my hand. The Doctor is obstinate though, and refuses to release me. 

“Doctor!” I start to say, but his head shake cuts me off. We sprint through a garden to a house and barge in through the door. The Doctor finally lets me go to run down a hallway. Mrs. Angelo comes out of the kitchen. “Oh Mabel dear, what are you doing here.” 

Not saying anything, emotionally exhausted from this day already, I just point towards her grandson’s room. She moves down the hallway and I hear her ask the Doctor what he is doing. 

I go to sit on the couch. Closing my eyes, I inhale deeply while scrubbing my hands over my face. 

I stopped hoping for the Doctor to come back a long time ago. Now that he’s here I don’t know what I should do. I know that Amy, and eventually Rory are going to go traveling with the Doctor. Part of me wants to go back and travel with him too, but I’ve rebuilt my life here. What if something like this happens again? 

Only the Doctor could make me go through this roller-coaster of emotions. I inhale, then exhale my emotion. I continue to do this until my simmering emotions feel dull in the back of my mind. Good. Now I can face this rationally. 

The Doctor runs out of the back room, gesturing for me to follow him. I run with him until we come up to a fire truck. “Seriously?” I ask him. 

The Doctor smirks at me, then climbs into the driver’s side, me scrambling after him. He reaches into his pocket, before freezing. “Forgot you burnt out your sonic screwdriver, didn’t you?” I tease him. 

His face flushes, and he mutters for me to shut up. Rolling my eyes, I reach up and pull the visor down. The keys fall into his lap. “How did you know that was here?” He asks me. 

I shrug. “It’s a small town.”

Grimacing, he turns on the truck and starts driving towards the hospital. I don’t speak and neither does he. Rory’s phone rings and he throws it over to me for me to answer. 

“Hello!” I say into the phone. 

‘Mabel!’ Amy’s voice filters through to me. ‘We're at the hospital, but we can't get through.’ 

I suppress the urge to facepalm. “Amy, look in the mirror.” I hear Rory in the background asking her what I said. 

‘Look in the mirror.’ There’s a pause. ‘Ha ha! Uniform. Are you on your way? You're going to need a car.’ 

I smile proudly, though she can’t see. “Don’t worry, we’ve commandeered a vehicle.”

The Doctor sends a smug look my way, reaching up to turn the sirens on the fire truck on. 

A couple minutes later, Amy calls again. “You got in yet?” I ask her.

‘Yep.’ Amy responds. ‘But so’s Prisoner Zero.’ 

Concern makes my voice sharp. “Amy you need to get out of there!” She doesn’t respond, but there is a lot of background noise. “Amy? Amy, what's happening?” The Doctor glances over, concerned. “Amy, I’m serious, talk to me.”

‘We’re in the coma ward, but it’s here. It’s getting in.’

I grit my teeth in frustration. “How close are we?” I direct to the Doctor. 

“Almost there.” He assures me. “Ask her which window she is.”

I put the phone back up to my ear. “Amy which window are you?”

‘What, sorry?’ She responds. 

“Which window?” I ask again. 

There’s a pause. ‘First floor, on the left, fourth from the end.’

“First floor, on the left, fourth from the end.” I tell the Doctor before focusing on the phone again. “Thank you, now I need you and Rory to stay far away from the windows.” I hang up and press the button that elongates the ladder on the top of the truck. 

It crashes through what I hope is the right window. We both scramble out of the vehicle and climb up the ladder, the Doctor first. He climbs in through the window and immediately starts doing what he’s best at. Talking. 

“Right! Hello. Am I late?” He looks towards the clock. “No, three minutes to go. So still time.” Reaching over, he helps me climb off the ladder. There’s a woman, holding hands with two little girls. The multiform, I would presume. 

The mother tilts her head, staring at us unnervingly. “Time for what, Time Lord?”

He saunters closer to the multiform. “Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies.”

The multiform looks unimpressed. “The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire.”

The Doctor laughs, but it isn’t a happy laugh. “Okay. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave.”

“I did not open the crack.” The multiform states. 

The Doctor narrows his eyes at her. “Somebody did.”

“The cracks in the skin of the universe, don't you know where they came from?” The multiform tilts her head to the side, coming to a realization. “You don't, do you?” Her voice turns into the voice of a little girl. “The Doctor in the Tardis doesn't know. Doesn't know. Doesn't know!” Finishing with her taunting, the multiform changes back to her adult voice. “The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall.” For some reason the sound of that sends ice down my spine. 

“And we’re off!” The Doctor exclaims, pointing at the clock. It reads 0:00. “Look at that.”

“Yeah, I know, just a clock. Whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is Zero.” The Doctor smirks at the multiform. “Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd probably take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute? The source, by the way, is right here.” He finishes, holding up Rory’s phone. I hadn’t even realized that he grabbed it when we left the fire truck. 

A light shines in through the windows. “Oh! And I think they just found us!” He says, voice bright. 

The multiform rolls it’s eyes. “The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me.”

Nodding, the Doctor agrees with her. “Yeah, but this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favorite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Ooo, and being uploaded about now.” He presses a button on the phone. “And the final score is, no Tardis, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare. Who da man?” Seriously? I reach over and smack him in the chest. “Oh, I'm never saying that again. Fine.”

The multiform doesn’t look scared. “Then I shall take a new form.” 

Scoffing, The Doctor argues. “Oh, stop it. You know you can't. It takes months to form that kind of psychic link.”

The multiform twists the woman’s face it’s wearing into a cruel smirk. “And I’ve had years.” 

Oh god. I understand right before Amy collapses on the floor. “Amy!” I cry out. 

Scrambling over to us, the Doctor puts his hand on the side of Amy’s face. “No! Amy? You've got to hold on. Amy? Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please.” 

Rory stands up slowly. “Doctor.”

The Doctor turns around and sees himself. “Well, that's rubbish. Who's that supposed to be?”

I look up from Amy’s body. “That’s you.”

Looking confused, the Doctor looks from me to the multiform again. “Me? Is that what I look like?”

“You don’t know?” Rory asks incredulously. 

Jumping to his feet, The Doctor shrugs. “Busy day. Why me, though? You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?”

Little Amelia Pond comes out from behind the Multiforms version of the Doctor, clutching his hand. “I'm not. Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you've been.”

Pausing, The Doctor takes in the scene. “No, she's dreaming about me because she can hear me.” He lunges for Amy again. This time placing both of his hands on the side of her face. “Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see. Remember you went inside. I tried to stop, but you did. You went in the room. You went inside. Amy, dream about what you saw.” 

I stand up. The multiform is demanding he stops, but then starts to glow like it is changing again. It takes the form of an eel like creature, hanging from the ceiling. 

“Well done, Prisoner Zero. A perfect impersonation of yourself.” The Doctor says to it. 

A booming voice comes in from outside the windows. “Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained.”

Prisoner Zero hisses. “Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall.” Then it disappears in a rush of light. Hopefully the Atraxi takes care of it properly this time. 

The Doctor goes over to the window, but he doesn’t look pleased. He takes out Rory’s phone again and starts typing on it. 

Rory looks up at him. “The sun. It's back to normal, right? That's, that's good, yeah? That means it's over.” The Doctor walks by him, patting him on the head as he goes. 

Amy shifts, starting to wake up. “Amy!” I call out, relieved. I stroke her hair. “You’re awake.” 

“What happened?” She asks, voice thick and slow. 

Rory leans in. “He did it. The Doctor did it.”

“No, I didn’t.” He says to us, continuing to type on Rory’s phone. 

Rory finally notices what the Doctor is doing. “What are you doing?” He asks. 

“Tracking the signal back.” He tells Rory, concentrating. “Sorry in advance.”

“For what?” I ask the Doctor. 

“The bill.” The Doctor responds, distracted. He presses one final button and then brings the phone up to his ear. “Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article fifty seven of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established level five planet, and you were going to burn it? What? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here, now.” He throws the phone back to Rory. “Okay, now I've done it.” 

The Doctor walks over and grabs my hand, leading me from the room. I’ve given up on making him stop. I can vaguely hear Rory protesting in the background but we’re to far away for me to hear him properly. 

“Where are we going?” I ask him. 

“The roof. No wait, hang on.” He responds before changing direction suddenly and pulling me into a changing room. Amy, then Rory, stumble in after us. 

“What’s in here?” Amy asks him. 

The Doctor starts rummaging around in people’s lockers. Grabbing articles of clothing and examining them. “I'm saving the world - I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show.”

Rory starts protesting again, but I can tell it’s just to try and impress Amy, so I don’t pay it any mind. 

I spot a familiar shirt and go over to grab it, offering it to him. He takes it from me, pressing it up against his body so he can see it in the mirror. Humming thoughtfully, he pats me on the shoulder before continuing his search. He pulls a pair of trousers and shoes out of one locker. In the next locker he comes away with a pair of suspenders. 

He drops the clothes in a pile next to him on the floor and starts stripping. 

“-And now you’re taking off your clothes. Amy he’s taking his clothes off.” Rory stammers. 

I can’t see The Doctor’s face, but I’m assuming he’s scoffing as he responds. “Turn your back if it embarrasses you.” 

At this I direct a sharp look to Amy, twirling my finger in a circle. She sends me a dirty look, but my glare is stronger than hers. She turns around, grumbling the whole time and Rory mouths a thank you in my direction. The sound of shuffling comes from behind us. 

“Hmm.” I hear him say. “What do you think?” I turn. He is clothed, thankfully, and holding up two jackets. 

The one on the right is a green trench coat. The one on the left is the familiar tweed that I am used to. “The tweed, definitely the tweed.” I say to him. 

He smirks at me, throwing the tweed at me to hold as he goes over and grabs several different fabric strips for bow ties and laying them around his neck. I mean they don’t look anything like bow ties now, but I kind of know that’s what he is going to end up wearing in the future so I can guess. 

The Doctor starts walking towards the roof, wearing his confidence like a cloak. It’s amazing what a new outfit can do for a man. 

He slams the door to the roof open, and saunters over to the waiting Atraxi. 

“So this was a good idea, was it? They were leaving.” Amy asks, tone worried.

“Leaving is good. Never coming back is better.” The Doctor tells her. Directing his full attention to the Atraxi, he raises his voice to be heard. “Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now.” 

The eye drops out of the spaceship, scanning the Doctor. “You are not of this world.” It tells him. 

“No.” The Doctor responds, pulling his suspenders up into place. “But I've put a lot of work into it.” Looking down at his selection of ties, he holds them up to the Atraxi. “Oh, hmm, I don't know. What do you think?”

The Atraxi ignores him. “Is this world important?”

“Important?” The Doctor scoffs. He throws one of the ties behind him and hits Rory with it. “What's that mean, important? Six billion people live here. Is that important?” He throws another tie. “Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi? Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?”

A 3D model of the Earth pops up. Several scenes from around the world flash by. “No.” The Atraxi responds. 

The Doctor takes the last remaining tie he has around his neck and starts to tie it. “Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?”

More scenes flash. “No.” The Atraxi says again. 

Nodding, The Doctor continues. “Okkaay. One more. Just one. Is this world protected?” The projection starts showing images of robot looking creatures and things that look like pepper pots. “Because you're not the first lot to come here. Oh, there have been so many. And what you've got to ask is, what happened to them?”

The projection starts showing the Doctor’s other faces, as well as several different women. He reaches back and takes the jacket out of my arms, putting it on. He takes my hand and encourages me to step forward. I have just enough time to recognize my own face in the projection before the Doctor has us walk through it. “Hello. I'm the Doctor, and this is Mabel. Basically, run.” 

The eye ball seems to shake for a second, before it zips back up into it’s ship. The ships starts spinning frantically and it takes off into the sky. We watch it leave, but then I hear a sound like the Tardis is materializing, and the Doctor jumps. He takes a glowing Tardis key out of his pocket, and beams down at me. Tugging on my hand, he runs towards the doors to the roof. 

I roll my eyes, but let myself get pulled. We make our way back to the Tardis, and find her looking brand new on the outside. “Okay,” The Doctor breaths out, squeezing my hand. “What have you got for me this time?”

He presses his key into the lock, and I get to see the look of wonder on his face as he opens the doors. “Look at you, oh you sexy thing!” The Doctor looks over at me, and I shoo him into the interior with a wave of my hands. I’ve already seen her like this before after all. He shoots off, all gangly limbs. Laughing softly, I walk in and the doors close automatically. I lean on them and watch as the Doctor spins around in delight. 

My amusement quickly fades though, as he starts pressing buttons and initiating the sequence to take off. “Doctor!” 

He ignores me, and I dart over to him grabbing his hands to stop him. He breaks my hold, and grips me around the stomach with one arm to pull me away from the console. With the other he finishes the sequence and pulls the dematerialization lever, sending us off into the vortex. 

I struggle out of his hold and spin away. “What the hell are you doing?” I question him, hands balling into fists at my sides. 

He looks at me, face serious. “We need to talk.” 

I involuntarily take a step back. “No, I don’t particularly think we have anything to discuss.” 

The Doctor makes a noise of frustration, and stalks forward towards me. I take a step back for every step forward he takes, until I’m backed up against a railing. He grabs my wrists with his hands. “Twelve years Mabel. Twelve years.” 

Glaring up at him, I struggle against his hold. “Like I said earlier, I’m well fucking aware of that.” I pause my struggles, narrowing my eyes at him. He’s been grabbing me and pulling me around all day, and I’m not going to let it happen anymore. “You need to let me go, or I’m going to make you let me go.”

The Doctor’s face is set in stubborn lines. “Not until you talk to me.” 

Well, I did warn him. He’s so close to me that it’s easy to slip my leg between his and bring my knee up. “Oph!” The Doctor starts to curl up, collapsing towards the floor. I twist my wrists breaking his hold and slipping around him. Darting around to the other side of the console, I watch him closely. Waiting to see what he is going to do next. 

He stays curled up for a second, before blowing out a large breath of air. Turning so that he is sitting on the floor, he raises his hands. “Guess I deserved that. I’ll stay right here, okay Mabel?” 

I frown at him. “I’m not a wounded animal Doctor.” I move so there is about ten feet between us and sit down as well. “So what do you want to talk about so badly that you took off without Amy?”

The Doctor sighs, resting his hands on his knees. “I didn’t mean to leave you for that long. It was only supposed to be a five minute jump. With all the damage and disarray in the console room, I thought it best to just do it by myself.” His jaw clenches. “It was a minute for me, at most.”

I tilt my head to the side, confused. “Yeah, I figured that part out already. I stopped being angry about this a long time ago Doctor.” I smile at him softly. “After I got over myself, it was kinda fun to remember the trouble we got into.” 

He shakes his head sharply. “What do you mean, got over yourself?” 

Flushing, I’m a little embarrassed. “Well, y’know.” I say, hoping that he will let me keep it at that. He just stares at me. Guess not. “I was young, and all this was really exciting. You were kind, and I took that out of proportion.” Laughing lightly, I shake my head. “I was angry, and hurt when you left me here. It didn’t make it any better that I was starting to catch feelings for you. But, like I said, I got over it.” 

The Doctor puts his head in his hands, shaking it slightly. “Twelve years, good job Doctor.” He mutters. Looking up at me, I can feel his resolve press through the connection we share. “I’m tired of the rules.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask him. 

“I’m talking about our rules.” He tells me. “The rules that we put into place. With how often we meet out of order it’s necessary. But right now, everything is balancing on the end of a pin. It can so easily tip one way or another.” His eyes catch mine, almost hypnotic. “I know you Mabel Falkov. I hurt you. I didn’t mean to, but it happened. And it’s so much easier to tell yourself that you just imagined everything, to say that it didn’t happen, then it is to actually let yourself believe. Because that hurts. That someone you cared for basically abandoned you. I’m telling you, you didn’t imagine anything.”

I bite my cheek harshly, feeling the skin split and tasting blood. It helps me focus. Makes the tears recede. “You can’t say those kinds of things to me Doctor. Not now.” The Doctor inhales from across the room, then leans forward urgently. “No, don’t move. I had nothing when you took off. It took a long time, but I built myself a life here. I won’t-I can’t-“ I clamp my mouth shut before something comes out that I will regret. 

The Doctor is basically vibrating where he’s sitting. His hands are clenched, knuckles white against the glass floor. “Mabel.” His voice is strained. 

“I don’t think I could do something like that again.” I admit to him. This seems to break his restraint, as he darts to his feet and is at my side in what seems like a second. 

“Mabel, please.” He kneels down, looking at me in the eye. “Please, one more chance. Just one.” 

I look at him. His emotions are all over the place, but desperation is the strongest. “Why?” I ask him plaintively. “Why does it matter so much to you?” 

“Because you matter, and I’m going to make you see that.” The Doctor tells me, voice insistent. 

My face scrunches up. “What kind of bogus, campy answer was that?” 

His face clears, expression lightening. “My kind of answer!” Jumping to his feet, he starts twirling around the console and rambling. 

I tune him out, looking down at the glass floor. I have a feeling this is going to end in tears, my tears. But I can’t say no. I could never say no to him when he got all insistent in the past, and it looks like I can’t do it now either. 

I stand up, watching the Doctor flip switches and generally look like Christmas has come early. Smiling unconsciously, I feel a faint tendril of fondness for the man in front of me. 

The Doctor’s head snaps in my direction, beaming. “There you are!” 

Whoops, I must have projected that. I hunch in, clamping up again. 

“C’mon Mabel.” He teases me, coming closer. “That wasn’t so bad was it?”

“Meh.” I grumble at him. 

~

The first couple of weeks are difficult. I miss the people I got to know back in Leadworth. I wonder what people think happened, if my shop has been closed. 

I miss Amy, Rory, and Mels. I care for them a great deal. With the amount of time I spent over at her house babysitting, I was far more of a caretaker to Amy than her aunt was. And Mels keeps getting into more trouble than I can get her out of, but at least I had been there to help her when I could. 

I ask the Doctor several times to go back to Leadworth, but he keeps refusing. Citing the fact that he has a time machine and can go back at any time. Yeah, cause we all know how his track record with ending up in the right place is. Unfortunately, it’s not like I can fly the Tardis back on my own. 

I even bring up Amy. He had promised her when she was a child that she could come with him in the Tardis, at least for one trip. The Doctor promises that he is going to go back for her, but right now his primary focus was me. 

The Doctor waits. He waits, until even I am itching to go out and do something. Then he whisks me away. Candle lit dinners at expensive restaurants, then more impressive hole in the wall eateries. And dancing, there always seems to be dancing. Also, the occasional overthrowing of empires and the general running for your life that comes with traveling with the Doctor. I know what he’s trying to do, the sap. Trying to woo me. I resist, but everyday there is a new place or a new gesture of kindness, and my resolve starts chipping away. 

I start to open up more. Actually explore what the connection between us can do. It’s kind of like a tv show on in the background. I can tune it out if I want to focus on something else, but I can always check on it when I want to. Loud bursts of emotions always filter through. Found that out during a Yrenthian ball. First time I ever got kidnapped. I woke up in a strange room strapped to a table. Turns out there were slave traders mingling, and I caught their interest. 

It was a panic fueled 4 hours, but it probably would have been worse without the Doctor. I could feel his determination to find me, and the black rage that someone had taken me in the first place. 

So we traveled. Got into trouble, and into fun. Eventually I stopped asking to go back to Leadworth. I no longer wanted to anymore. It was around the one year mark that I lost my self imposed battle. The latest adventure had us running from some sort of space pirates. The Doctor had accidentally, on purpose, insulted the captain of the crew, and now we were dodging gun fire and frantically trying to get back to the Tardis. We managed to just barely get inside the doors, but it was a close call. Pretty sure hair got singed there. 

I look over at him, and he looks over at me. “That was ridiculous!” I burst out, starting to laugh. 

The Doctor laughs with me and as I look at him, I come to a sudden realization that despite my best efforts, I’ve gone and fallen in love with this man. 

Laughter fading, I reach out and put my arms around his neck. Guiding him down, I pull him into a kiss. At the first touch of our lips the Doctor moans and grips at my hips like I’m the water he needs to survive. He turns us so that I am pressed against the door. Nipping at my lower lip, he pulls back to rest his forehead against mine. 

Both of our breathing is harsh. The connection we share is wide open, reflecting his growing desire to me and mine to him. 

“Wow.” I breath out. 

The Doctor giggles, a high happy sound. He uses his grip on my hips to twirl me around into an improvised waltz. The connection practically sings with his exaltation. I rest my head on his shoulder, reveling in the feeling. 

“Thank you.” He whispers, placing a kiss on the top of my head. 

“Sap.” I tease him, fond. 

“Always.” He promises. 

We sway there, enjoying each other’s warmth, until I feel a long forgotten feeling. 

Closing my eyes in resignation, I curse this ability. The Doctor pulls back, taking in the glow that’s flowing down my skin. His eyes are sad. 

“I don’t want to go.” I tell him, lip trembling. Not now. 

“Braveheart Mabel.” He says to me, and my world burns bright.


	7. Finding out how (Shan Shen)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we start to get a little more plot. Also the story got bumped up from teen to mature. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Once the light fades, I realize that I’m in an office. With gorgeous red walls and wooden paneling. The desk is covered in papers and there are books scattered around in random places. I notice the Tardis is parked in the corner of the room, she has an out of order sign on the front. There’s a desk in the middle of the room, and I head over to snoop. There’s a cup full of what looks to be sonic screwdrivers? Is this the Doctor’s office?

There are several pictures on the desk, I recognize my face in one of them. Two of them have people I’ve never seen before. Hmm, I hope I meet them. The Doctor doesn’t seem like one to normally keep pictures around, I know it hurts him when his companions leave. The fact that he has pictures of these two must mean they are special. 

The door suddenly squeaks open and a bald man walks in. “Mabel!” He says in surprise, pausing at the doorway. Someone grumbles from behind him, sounding very Scottish. 

I awkwardly raise a hand, waving a little. “Hello!” 

The Scottish voice raises from muttering to full blown annoyance. “Nardole, stop blocking the door!” Nardole moves aside and a grumpy looking man walks in. 

Our connection resonates, and I instantly know that this is the Doctor. A smile pulls at my lips. He’s tall, just like he normally is. With grey hair and attack eyebrows. 

He walks over, and I notice a flash of silver on his hand. A ring? I bite my lip and smile nervously up at him. 

His eyebrows twitch, confusion spreading over his face. “What are you so nervous about?” 

Oh. Heat spreads across my face as I flush. “Nothing.” I tell him decisively.

“No.” He points a finger at me. “That’s not nothing, that’s something. Your face is doing the thing.” 

“The thing?” I ask, nose scrunching up in confusion. My flush fades as my mind starts thinking about something else. “What’s that?” 

The Doctor smiles, the whole room seeming lighter in response. “There we go. No more nervousness, okay Mabel.” 

Oh, this man. He knew I was feeling nervous so he distracted me. I look up at him, affection seeping from my very being. He shifts, but looks pleased. 

I clear my throat. “Hello Doctor, this is my first time meeting this you and I’m very glad to do so.” 

His face twitches and he looks a little sad for a moment, before it clears. He reaches out and grabs my hand, bringing it up to his mouth and placing a kiss on it. “Hello Mabel, I’ve known you for a very long time now, but I’m always pleased to see you again.” 

Someone clears their throat from behind us. I look over and it’s the man who first walked into the office. Nardole? I think I heard the Doctor say. Nardole looks uncomfortable. 

Before any of us can say anything, I feel the heat crawl up my torso again. “What?” I say, disappointed. “I can’t even stay for an hour?” 

The Doctor squeezes my hand. “Where you came from, you haven’t jumped in a very long time right?” I nod at him. “Braveheart Mabel, you are going to have to be brave.” The Doctor says more, but I can’t hear him over the roar of the flames. The pressure of his hand disappears from mine, and my vision whites out. 

~

Arms catch me, and I reach out through the connection, hoping it’s the Doctor. It is, and I relax. “Hello Doctor.” I tell him, blinking furiously to try and clear my vision. 

“Hello Mabel!” I hear him say back, but his voice is different. I turn around to take him in. It’s a different face again! He has pin striped pants on. There are question marks on his collar and a stick of celery on his jacket. 

His absolute joy at seeing me is bouncing along our connection. I can’t help but smile at him. I reach out, cupping his face. He leans into the touch, beaming down at me. 

“What brings you here today Mabel?” He asks me. 

My brow furrows. “I’m not quite sure, I was with a future you and then I just jumped. It didn’t even let me stay for ten minutes.” 

The Doctor’s face turns worried. Leading me over to a chair, he makes me sit down. 

“Mabel, you were in one place for a long time without jumping yes?” I nod, the second time I’ve answered this question in under five minutes. “Your body, it isn’t meant to hold on to the energy you use to jump for long periods of time. Now that you can jump, your body is trying to expel as much of the energy as possible. It’s why you’re jumping so rapidly.” 

“I don’t understand.” I tell him. “I was stuck in a place, but I wouldn’t jump no matter what I tried. And yet I jump when I don’t want to jump. I just don’t get it.” 

His face falls, becoming sad. “I’m sorry Mabel. I haven’t figured out a way to stop it from happening yet. I’m trying, I promise.” 

I try to smile at him, but I’m not sure how well I do. I can feel the fire starting to burn again. “It’s okay Doctor, one day you’ll find it.” And I’m whisked away again. 

~

This time my arrival is punctured by my descent to the floor. Note to self, always stand up when I’m jumping. I curse, rubbing my back. A woman laughs, and I scowl in the direction I heard it come from. I still can’t see anything properly. 

The person walks closer, I can hear their footsteps. The connection I share with the Doctor is bubbling with nervousness. 

I reach an arm out, and the Doctor reaches back helping me to my feet. He covers my eyes with his hands, nerves hitting a fever pitch. “Doctor?” I ask, concerned. “What’s wrong hun?” 

He doesn’t say anything, and I reach up to grab his wrists. They are skinner than I expected. I pull them away from my eyes, and come face to face with a woman. She has shoulder length blonde hair, and a furrow in her brow. 

My mouth drops open in shock. It’s the Doctor! She starts to look uncomfortable, shifting in my grip. “This is new.” I say, still stunned. 

The Doctor laughs. “Yeah, I was surprised too.” She relaxes in my grip as it becomes clear that I’m not upset. 

Hmm. Maybe she thought I wouldn’t like her now? Silly Doctor. 

I shift my hands from holding her wrists to holding her hands. Wait a minute. I tilt my head to the side in contemplation. “Do you still want me to use male pronouns, or do you want to use female pronouns?” 

The Doctor looks surprised. “I haven’t really thought about it. But, now that I’m a woman I may as well use female pronouns.”

I nod to myself. “Okay then, now let’s address the nervousness that I felt from you when I first got here.” She looks away from me. “Hey now, I want you to know that you being a woman doesn’t change anything for me. It’s just a new body to get used to like any other incarnation.” 

She frowns. “I’ve always been a man. I was surprised when I regenerated into a woman.” The Doctor looks over to me with a rueful expression. “Though I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised in the end. I’ve had a lot of positive female influences in my life.”

I smile up at her, pleased. “Y’know I’ve been here for over two minutes and I haven’t gotten a hello kiss yet.” 

“A hello kiss?” The Doctor asks, mouth twitching. I can feel her amusement bubble up. 

“Yeah.” I say, tongue coming out to moisten my lips. Her eyes are drawn to the movement. I reach up and fix her collar, fingers accidently, on purpose, brushing against the skin at her throat. 

The Doctor leans in, hooked. She brings her hands up to cup my jaw, angling my head so she can kiss me. Our lips touch and her thumb digs in at the sensitive spot at the hollow of my throat. Gasping, my mouth falls open giving her access to dip her tongue in. It’s hot and wet and perfect. 

The kiss ends and I look up at her, feeling high on life. She smirks at the look on my face, brushing my hair back behind my ear. 

Suddenly a thought hits me. “You regenerate into a woman and somehow you’re still taller than me!” My face is full of indignation. 

The Doctor snorts inelegantly, smothering her laugh in my shoulder. The nervousness and fear that I felt in her earlier is gone. Just humor and happiness is left. I smile into her hair. Mission accomplished. 

My legs choose that moment to give out. The Doctor shouts in alarm, but I can barely hear her. My head is spinning. “I don’t feel so well.” I tell her. 

I can feel the fire crawling around me, sluggish now. I’m jumping again, but I don’t think I’m supposed to be jumping like this. So soon after one another. 

I feel her pull me into her arms. She presses a kiss to the side of my head. “Braveheart Mabel.” I hear her say as my vision is overwhelmed with white. 

~

I feel my body crash to the floor, but I’m so exhausted that I can’t even cry out. My body is tight and hot. It feels like I’ve been stretched out. There are raised voices, I can’t make out what they are saying. The world shifts and twists around me. 

Suddenly, I’m dumped in what feels like ice water. I finally find my voice to cry out in protest. “Shh, Shh.” Someone says to me. But I can’t, it feels like tiny knives are digging into me. I lash out, managing to connect with something before my arms are grabbed and restrained. 

Minutes, hours, days. Time stretches and passes in waves. I have no idea how long I’ve been held in this torture. Every time I seem to get used to it, the water seems to get colder. 

Reality reasserts itself. I’m reclined on someone, I can feel myself move with the fall and rise of their body. We seem to be in a tub of water. I can feel a ball of emotions churning just behind my eyes. Concern. Worry. Determination. I shiver pitifully. “Do-Doctor, w-why am I in ice w-water?”

He speaks, and I finally know what Doctor I am with. It’s the one with the great hair. “When you arrived, your body was in the process of shutting down. You were in the vortex for too long. The strain caused your body to overheat and your organs were in the process of boiling. I had to get your core temperature down. I’m sorry, but this was the fastest way.” He shifts, keeping his arms around me, and pressing his chin against my forehead. “Still too hot.” He mutters. 

I laugh, voice still weak. “We-Well I do my b-best.”

The Doctor doesn’t respond, just shifts and the water suddenly starts moving, colder water being pumped in. 

“No.” I whine, trying to shift away. His arms tighten, like steel bands I can’t get away from. “Please Doctor, it’s freezing. Please.” I plead with him. 

“I’m sorry Mabel. I have to drop your core temperature.” There are tears in his voice, but resolve flowing through the connection. 

He refills the tub twice more before he lets me get out. I am so weak I can barely move. He strips my wet clothes off and dries my body, dresses me in a pair of flannel pajamas. After making sure I have everything on, the Doctor sets me down on the counter for a brief moment. Striping his own clothes off and putting dry clothes on. Then he picks me back up and walks out into a room I had never seen before. I have time to take in a large bed with a dark orange comforter before I was being placed in it. 

The Doctor goes out of my view for a second, fiddling with the lights and turning them off, then climbs in the bed next to me. Forgoing the blankets, he pulls me over to lay on his chest. I lean into him, seeking the warmth. “You’re so warm.” I whisper, the highest I can make my voice come out. 

He hums. “I’m really not. A balmy 60 degrees Fahrenheit, that’s me.” 

“You made me too cold.” I say to him, still shivering. 60 degrees shouldn’t feel warm to me. 

He shifts, shaking his head. “No,” He tells me. “I had to drop it this low for a reason. Your system should start regulating it properly now.” 

I shake my head in response. “No. I’m not supposed to be this cold. I’m human Doctor.”

He winces, I feel a spike of alarm which is quickly smothered. “Today is not the day for that conversation.” He grumbles. 

“Wait, what?” I raise my head to look at him. 

The Doctor brushes the hair from my face. “Nothing sweetheart, why don’t you get some sleep. I can feel how exhausted you are.” 

And I am, the more he talks the more I can feel my exhaustion dragging me down. “No fair.” I mumble, almost asleep. “Putting me asleep..that’s cheating.” 

His soft laughter follows me into my dreams. 

~

The next time I’m aware, instead of slowly floating awake like I’m used to, my body snaps awake. I blink, noticing the chest hair right in front of my face. Hmm. I bring a hand up and start twisting some between my fingers. 

The Doctor grumbles, his hand coming up to smack at my hand. “I was actually asleep.” He tells me, grouchy. 

I hum, projecting my humor. “Think of it as payback for putting me to sleep in the first place.” 

I feel much warmer now. And clearer. Like I had been living with wool over my eyes and it had just been pulled off. 

I sit up, frowning. Something is different. “What else did you do to me yesterday?” I ask him, alarmed. 

He winces, rubbing a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I didn’t do anything to you that hadn’t already been there.” 

I scoot off the side of the bed, turning around and staring at him. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?” 

“Mabel.” He hesitates. “You’ve asked questions before. Questions about how long you could possibly stay with me if you were aging like a normal human. About how you are telepathic to such a degree that we could form a connection.” He nods at me. “This is the answer to that question.”

“But I don’t understand.” Biting my cheek, I stop myself from continuing. 

The Doctor sits up and grabs my hands. Pulling me back into the bed. He adjusts so we are sitting cross-legged in front of each other, hands still linked. “Braveheart Mabel.” He says to me, squeezing my hands. “You’re not human.” 

Time stops, or at least that’s what it feels like. My head reels. “What? Is this some sort of joke?” I ask him, tone chilly. “Cause it isn’t a very funny one.” 

He grimaces, but continues. “Think about it Mabel. There is a disconnect in your childhood, where you changed. And other things as well. Like your take on intimacy vs other humans.” 

I gape at him. “So I have weird intimacy issues, that doesn’t mean I’m an alien.” 

He frowns at me. “You don’t have weird intimacy issues. They are perfectly normal if you consider what species you are.” 

“And what species am I then, since you seem to know all about it.” I stare at him, so far beyond unamused I’ve traveled into glacial. 

The Doctor purses his lips. “Gallifreyan.” 

“How convenient.” I tilt my head, cold anger filling my insides. “The species you say I am is the very same species you seem to be.” 

Ridiculous, completely ridiculous. “I mean, weird space/time jumping aside, I appear human. I grew up on earth, living a normal life Doctor.” I raise a hand to stop him from interrupting. “You are generally cooler than a human, than me. I don’t have two hearts like you do. There are several marks against this theory of yours.” 

The Doctor raises an eyebrow at me. “From what we could piece together, you were left here as a young child. Children are impressionable. You could tell that you weren’t the same as others, and that you were making your parents worried. Gallifreyans can manually control different body functions. Regulating body heat is literally child’s play. You raised your body temperature to be closer to a human’s natural temperature. Even though it wasn’t perfect. You always ran a few degrees cooler than normal.” I hate how he has a rational argument for this. “And yes, you do have one heart right now. Most Gallifreyans aren’t born with two hearts. That’s something that is fixed the first time you regenerate. I wasn’t born with two hearts.”

I try to pull my hands from his, and he lets me. The Doctor seems to know that I need some time to process this, and gets up to put a shirt on. Leaving the room and shutting the door behind him. 

Against my will, I start to think back. I used to pick up things easy as a child. So very easy. But children are cruel and social contact is important. I started dumbing myself down intentionally, pretending that I was like them, until suddenly I was performing at that level without pretending anymore. 

My body temperature had always been a few degrees cooler than normal, he was right. But that’s not out of the realm of possibility, some humans do have a lower body temperature. But y’know what? I had woken up on top of the Doctor and he felt warm. The Doctor had told me that what he did last night had reset my system. If he was right. If I had been unconsciously adjusting my temperature already, then of course he had to drop my temperature far below what should have normally been possible. The Doctor said he ran around 60 degree F. 

Shaking my head harshly, I try and remove the thoughts. But my mind ticks on. The way I’ve felt since I woke up. Clearer. The fact that I am now noticing things I never would have known before. For example, I know that the Doctor had left the room 3 minutes and 29 seconds ago. 

“UGGHHH.” I flop down on the bed, letting my breath out in a rush. I can’t believe I was actually fitting my life into his theory. Fuck. 

The door creaks open and the Doctor walks in, it’s been 6 minutes and 41 seconds since he left the room in the first place. “I hate you.” I mutter. 

“No you don’t.” He says to me, a smile in his voice. He comes over to the bed, flopping his body on top of mine. 

I ooph, but don’t move otherwise. “I can’t believe I’m actually considering what you are saying.” 

He hums, chest rumbling against mine. 

“You realize how crazy this sounds to me.” His body raises and falls to my breaths. 

“It might sound crazy but that doesn’t mean it’s not real.” The Doctor shifts, hands coming up to brace my shoulders. He starts to roll over, and his hands ensure I roll with him. Now I’m on top of him, instead of him being on top of me. 

The Doctor reaches up with his left hand and starts massaging my neck. Something inside me shifts. My lower body clenches, liquid heat pooling. “Oh my god.” I breath out. 

I hear the Doctor inhale. His voice drops a register, a rumbling growl. “And you don’t have weird intimacy issues. Those boys just didn’t know how to properly stimulate you.” He continues his massage, paying close attention to the hollows under my ears. Each slide of his fingers send a bolt of heat directly to the building ache between my legs. 

“Doctor.” My voice is high and breathy, unlike anything I’ve heard from myself before.

He shifts, his head leaning towards mine. I can feel his breath feather over my ear. “There is a mental component for Gallifreyan intercourse as well.” The connection we share gets thrown wide open. My pleasure is sucked into it. I feel the echo of his pleasure in response. Both of ours feeding into each other, making it spiral higher. 

A whine spills from my throat. I brush his hand off my neck, sitting up and throwing my leg over his waist to straddle him. Grinding against the bulge in his pajama bottoms makes him throw his head back. I reach into our connection, instinctively plucking the strings of his pleasure, making it soar. He curses, leaning up to kiss me harshly. 

We start rocking together, the harsh drag of our clothing creating delicious friction. The Doctor pulls his lips away from mine, making his way down my neck. He nips and sucks along the skin his mouth touches before stopping at the junction of my neck and shoulder. There he focusses his attention, sucking harshly. Each pull of his mouth causes my hips to jerk into his. 

My hands had not been idle either. One was on the back of his neck, caressing the same pleasure points that the Doctor had manipulated on me earlier. The other had tugged his shirt up, running my hand along the planes of his stomach. 

Our shared pleasure rises higher, spiraling faster and faster until it implodes. It feels like whole universes are born and destroyed. The world spins on and we are just one point in it. I collapse down onto the Doctor. His arms come to cradle me. Our breathing is rough. The connection is still thrown open. We are so deeply intertwined with each other I can hardly tell where I stop and he begins. 

I hadn’t known it could be like that. In the past, I had never been able to get off with a partner. It was always about their pleasure, not mine. Having sex was something I did for them, because I knew they liked it. This was an entirely different experience. 

The Doctor tightens his arms around me, his forehead pressing into mine. “Not the best thing to do, thinking about previous partners while in bed with your present one.” 

I flush lightly. “Sorry.” Biting my lip, I hesitate. “It’s just that I’ve never experienced anything like that before.” 

The Doctor kisses me, a soft press of lips. “I know.” He says, sounding sad. 

We stay in bed for a bit, but eventually the drying mess in our pants convince us to go clean up. The Doctor leads me back into the bathroom that had been my torture chamber twelve hours previously. Thankfully we by-pass the large tub and head for the walk in shower instead. 

He fiddles with a pad on the wall, causing water to fall from the ceiling. Stripping his clothes off, he drops them on the floor and steps into the shower.

I hesitate. Looking down at my flannel pajamas, I tug lightly at the hem of my shirt. I know the Doctor had dressed me last night, but I had been so exhausted that if left to my own devices I would have just stayed naked. My mouth twists. I’m not as nice to look at as I had been when I was in college. Time had softened my stomach and thighs. 

Eugh, whatever. I really need to get clean. The slickness between my thighs was starting to get uncomfortable. I strip quickly and efficiently before stepping under the stream of water. 

The water is perfect. Hot enough to feel good, but not hot enough to scald. I close my eyes, enjoying the feeling. 

Hands start running through my hair, wetting the strands. I peek out of one eye to see the Doctor, a look of intense concentration on his face. Laughing, I flick my water logged fingers at him. He sputters at me, flailing. “Oi! Keep your water over there!” He teases me, playful. 

We take turns helping the other get clean. The connection has started to close a bit. I no longer feel as though we have crawled inside each other, but the connection is still deeper and more intense than I’m used to. I’m starting to think that this is the new normal. 

The Doctor and I finish up in the shower, I step out and find fresh towels hanging up where I don’t remember any being before. “Thanks dear!” I direct to the ceiling. Ohh, the towels are heated, like they’ve just been pulled from the dryer. 

The Doctor sends a wave of fondness towards me. I look up, surprised, to find him with his own towel around his neck. He stands there, confident in his own body. I flush, trying to keep my eyes above his neck. 

Laughing, the Doctor grabs my towel and vigorously rubs it through my hair. I pout up at him, and he swoops down and kisses me. He pulls back, tapping me on the nose with his finger. He goes back into the bedroom, opening the door on the other wall. It reveals a walk in closet. 

Wrapping my towel around me, I take the opportunity to look around the room we are in. The bed is pressed up against the back wall. There are two large desks next to the door that leads to the Tardis corridor. One desk is tidy, there are a couple of books, some paper. The other desk is full of all sorts of bits and bobs. What looks like half finished projects. It very obviously belongs to the Doctor. A crumpled long coat rests over the back of the chair. There is a bra, half hidden, lying under the bed. 

This is our room. The room we share together. I walk into the closet, where I find the Doctor pulling on a pair of underwear. The closet is divided. There are clothes for men, his. And there are clothes for women, most probably mine. I go over to the Doctor, wrapping my arms around his chest from behind. 

He hums, hands coming up to cover mine. 

“This is our room.” I say. “Isn’t that supposed to be spoilers?”

He laughs, twisting in my arms to face me. “Maybe this was how you were supposed to find out about it.” 

I’m incredibly aware of all his skin that has yet to be covered up. Pulling my hand from his back, I bring it up to cup his jaw. I lean in and press my lips against his softly. The hand I have at his jaw tilts his head to a better angle. He responds to the kiss enthusiastically, but allows me to control it. I experiment. Finding which spots feel the best for him. 

Pulling back, I nip at his bottom lip. The jolt of pleasure that zings through him tells me that one day I’ll have to explore that more. 

He leans his head against mine, affection seeping through the contact. 

I smile up at him, then I pull away to look at the clothing. Future me has good taste. A pair of leggings, a bra, and button down shirt later, I’m almost ready to go. The Doctor is almost finished dressing too. His tie is hanging around his neck, untied. 

I walk over and start tying it. Looping it around in the style he normally wears. Once finished, I gesture into the specific shelf I’m at. “I can’t decide, which one should I wear.” 

He hums, fingering the scarfs. “This one.” He says, lingering on a bright yellow one. He picks it up, looping it around my neck. There is a smug smirk on his face as he takes in the reason for the scarf in the first place. “You know, you could just forgo the scarf. I wouldn’t mind.”

I swat at him, adjusting the scarf so it covers the hickey on my neck. “I’m sure you wouldn’t. But I don’t want to traumatize your poor companions.”

The Doctor laughs, grabbing his coat from over his desk chair and putting it on. I roll my eyes at him. He places his hand in the small of my back and starts leading me down the corridor.

“I don’t know if you’ve met Donna before, but she’s brilliant.” The Doctor tells me. 

I pause, thinking. “Hmm. No, I don’t think I’ve met a person named Donna before.” 

From a room farther down the corridor, I hear things banging around. The Doctor’s face lights up. “Well you’re in luck, she’s in the kitchen already.” He pauses, grimacing. “Though, maybe you should let her finish her tea before introducing yourself. She gets kind of cranky in the mornings.” The Doctor had started off talking normally, but had finished at a whisper. His eyes were darting around like he thought Donna was going to pop out and yell at him. 

Now I was really interested. Anyone who could make the Doctor act like a child who didn’t want to piss off his mom was someone I wanted to meet. 

We walked in the doorway and Donna caught sight of us. She shot up from her slump over the tea cup in front of her. “Mabel!” She shouts, rushing forward and pulling me into a big hug. 

“Oofh.” The air was knocked out of me. I patted her on the back softly. Her shoulders shook. “It’s okay Donna.”

She sniffles. “When you first got here, you just collapsed. Even the Doctor looked upset. I was worried.” 

My patting turned to holding, as I understood the reason for her concern. “Oh Donna. I’m okay now. He reset my system.” I pull back from her, smiling up at her teary face. “See, good as new!”

Her answering laughter is a little wet, but at least I got her to laugh. I shoo her back to the table to finish her tea. The Doctor shoos me over as well, so I sit down next to her while I wait for him to make it for me. 

He finishes the tea, bringing my cup over to the table, keeping ahold of his. “Y’know Donna, This is a rather interesting day-“ I cut him off, kicking him hard under the table. Sending him vibes of NO. 

The poor girl was worried about me all night. There is no need to tell her that the person she was worried about had no idea who she was till this morning. 

The Doctor’s mouth flaps up and down for a second before snapping closed. Donna looks over to him, suspicious. “What?” She ask, voice flat. 

Clearing my throat, I interject. “He was just about to tell you about where we are going next.” 

“I was?” The Doctor asks. Amusement trickles to me from his end of the connection. 

“Yes, you were.” I say, glaring at him. 

Donna snorts, startling us. Both of our heads snap in her direction. This just causes her to break out into laughter. “What?” We both ask at the same time. 

She flaps her hand at us, wiping tears from the side of her eyes.

The Doctor rolls his eyes. “Anyways! I suppose since I was about to tell you where we are going, I might as well start on that.” He sends a slight glare to me, which I ignore. “Shan Shen! Its markets are full of different things. Any kind of food you can imagine, and a large variety of knick knacks too. You’ll love it Donna!”

Donna raises an eyebrow at him. “So essentially, you’re taking me shopping.” 

The Doctor beams at her. “And I’ll even give you an unlimited credit chip.” 

Donna perks up, draining the rest of her tea. “I’ll go get ready then, I’ll meet you two in the console room!”

“Donna!” The Doctor calls after her, voice slightly pleading. “Don’t take two hours this time okay? Donna!” 

I avert my face from him, trying my best not to laugh. It’s a lost cause though, I know he can feel my amusement. He pouts at me, placing his elbow on the table and propping up his head. “It was horrible Mabel. I went to go look for her after an hour and she threw her shoe at my head.”

“I think I like Donna already.” I tell him, smile pulling at the edges of my mouth. 

He grumbles a bit, but he isn’t really upset. “Yeah, tell me something I don’t already know.” 

We finish our tea and head out to the console room. The sight of it makes me sort of sad. The last time I saw this room, this Doctor had regenerated. 

The Doctor reaches out and grabs my hand, silently asking me what was wrong. I shake my head, but lean into the warmth of his body. “Just a memory.” 

He squeezes my hand and then heads over to the console to start putting in coordinates. By the time Donna gets to the console room, we have already starting heading in the direction of Shan Shen. 

She looks in the Doctor’s direction with a smug look. “See spaceman, I didn’t take two hours.” 

The Doctor rolls his eyes at her, careful to be facing away from her when he does it. A couple more buttons and a lever pulled sees us successfully landed. “Here you go Donna. Unlimited credit chip.” He hands over a thin flash drive looking object. “Don’t spend it all in one place.”

Taking my arm, he directs me out of the Tardis and into the bustle of the market. I turn my head to watch Donna walk off. She looks unconcerned. “Are you sure she’ll be okay by herself?” I ask the Doctor. 

“Yeah, she’ll be fine.” The Doctor states. He’s not concerned either. 

Biting my lip, I hesitate. “But-“ 

The Doctor yanks on my arm where he’s linked with me. “You worry to much. Just enjoy yourself.” 

I scowl at him. “You don’t worry enough.” 

He laughs at me and drags me deeper into the crowd. He buys us this foaming beverage. It tastes like liquid pistachios. Delicious. We make our way down the street, sampling different cuisine. Man, food is still the best. 

The Doctor is in the process of handing me a glowing blue cupcake when it happens. Like a shiver down my spine. The whole world just tilted to the left. My eyes focus on the Doctor. The laugher is fading from his face, a serious look replacing it. “Did you feel that?” I ask him.

He shakes his head. “No, but I could feel what you felt.” 

“We need to find Donna.” I tell him urgently. Already scanning the crown for a familiar flash of red. 

He nods, his greater height allowing him to see over most people. “I don’t see her out here. Maybe she stepped into a shop?” He pulls me down the market, we split up and take both sides of the street. Poking our heads into shops and checking for her. 

I see a person run out of the front of a shop, she looks panicked. Mentally nudging the Doctor, I run in the same place I just saw a woman run out of. I catch site of Donna through a door made of beads. “Donna!” I call out. 

Her head jerks in my direction. Panic on her face for a second before she runs over and give me a hug. “Oh, God.” She exclaims. 

The Doctor runs in, concern on his face. “Are you okay?” He asks her.

“Yeah.” Donna says, face confused. “I don’t know what that was about.” 

I frown up at her. “I felt something happen, don’t know what. We were worried about you.” 

The Doctor walks around us, kneeling next to something on the ground. “I think this is what you felt Mabel. Well, not specifically this. But what this caused.” 

“What is it?” I ask, pulling back from the hug. 

The Doctor picks up a piece of straw from the ground and pokes at it. “It’s one of the Trickster’s Brigade. Changes a life in tiny little ways. Most times the universe just compensates around it, but with Donna? Great big parallel world.” He looks over to me. “That’s why you felt it, we are more sensitive to changes in timelines.”

“But that doesn’t make sense. Why did I feel it and you didn’t?” I ask him.

“I don’t know.” He says, tone grave. “I should have.”

Directing my attention to Donna, I look up at her. “Do you remember anything? Anything at all.” 

She frowns. “I don’t know. It’s all kind of slipping away. You know like when you try and think of a dream and it sort of goes?” Donna squints for a moment before rounding on the Doctor. “Hold on. You said parallel worlds are sealed off.”

“They are.” He confirms. “But you had one created around you. Funny thing is, seems to be happening a lot to you.”

Donna’s forehead furrows in confusion. “What do you mean?”

The Doctor tilts his head to the side. “Well, The Library and then this.”

“Just goes with the job, I suppose.” Donna says, obviously trying to brush it off. 

“Sometimes I think there's way too much coincidence around you, Donna.” He looks at her in speculation. “I met you once, then I met your grandfather, then I met you again. In the whole wide universe, I met you for a second time. It's like something's binding us together.”

Scoffing, Donna waves a hand at him. “Don't be so daft. I'm nothing special.”

I smack her on the arm, scowling at her. “Of course you are.”

The Doctor agrees with me. “Yes, you are. You’re brilliant.” 

Donna’s eyes go unfocussed. “She said that.” She murmurs. 

“Who did?” I ask her. 

“That woman. I can't remember.” Donna says, shaking her head. 

Shrugging, the Doctor brushes her off. “Well, she never existed now.” I direct a sharp look at him. This was important and he was acting like it didn’t matter. He grimaces at me. 

Donna insists. “No, but she said the stars. She said the stars are going out.”

Gently now, the Doctor nods. “Yeah, but that world's gone.” 

Donna shakes her head again. “No, but she said it was all worlds. Every world. She said the darkness is coming, even here.”

Concerned, I share a look with the Doctor. “Who was she?” 

“I don't know.” Her eyes are still unfocussed. She’s trying her hardest to remember. 

“What did she look like?” The Doctor asks.

Hesitantly, Donna answers. “She was blonde.” 

I reach over, resting my hand on hers, giving it a comforting squeeze. “What was her name?” 

“I don't know.” She repeats, frustrated.

Voice sharpening, the Doctor continues his questions. “Donna, what was her name?” 

It’s like she doesn’t even hear him. She’s lost in her own memories. “But she told me to warn you. She said two words.” 

At the mention of two words, a bolt of shock resounds through the connection from the Doctor. “What two words? What were they? What did she say?” He fires off, voice almost scared. 

“Bad Wolf.” Donna murmurs. “Well, what does it mean?”

The Doctor’s face drains of color. Shock is clear on his features. He bolts towards the door, running out into the market. 

I share a look with Donna and we both take off after the Doctor. 

He’s spinning around, looking at everything. I don’t understand at first, but then I see it. Every sign, every flag. Anything that has words on it, even the Tardis. All of it has been changed. It all says the same two words. The two words that Donna has just said. ‘Bad Wolf’

The Doctor opens the door to the Tardis and sprints in. We follow, but all of us slow down once we see the interior. All the lights have gone red. It’s eerie. The Cloister bell sounds from deep within the ship. 

Donna looks alarmed. “What is it? What’s Bad Wolf?”

Chest heaving, his voice comes out sounding strangled. “It’s the end of the universe.”

“What?” I ask, voice unnaturally high. 

He doesn’t answer, instead going over and frantically pressing at things on the console. We take off, shaking and jolting through the time vortex. 

“Where are we going?” I yell over at him. 

“I need to see for myself!” He yells back at me. 

The Tardis lands and he is the first one out of the doors. Donna and I follow him, we come face to face with a normal suburban street. 

The Doctor looks perplexed. “It’s fine. Everything’s fine. Nothing’s wrong., all fine.” He raises his voice to the milkman on the corner can hear him. “Excuse me. What day is it?” 

“Saturday!” The milkman calls back. 

Nodding the Doctor takes a deep breath to calm down. “Saturday. Good. Good, I like Saturdays.”

“So I just met Rose Tyler?” Donna asks. 

Wait what? 

“Yeah.” The Doctor confirms. 

“But she’s locked away in a parallel world.” Donna insists. 

“Wait, what!” I exclaim. What the hell are they talking about. 

The Doctor sends a hard look at Donna, causing her mouth to close with a click of her teeth. “Spoilers.” He says to me. 

“No, you can’t just say spoilers!” I say to him, upset. His jaw clenches. Grabbing my arm, he drags me back into the Tardis. 

“I literally can’t tell you anything Mabel. You have to live it, it hasn’t happened for you yet.” He looks sad, but resolute. I shake my head, still upset. But I know he can’t tell me anything. 

Donna breaks the tension. “The thing is, Doctor, no matter what’s happening, and I’m sure it’s bad. I get that, but Rose is coming back. Isn’t that good?” 

The Doctor averts his eyes, looking at the ground. “I don’t know.” 

The Tardis shakes, shuddering around us. “What the hell was that?” I ask from my position on the ground. 

The Doctor shakes his head from beside me. “Don’t know. It came from outside.”

Jumping up, he goes over to the doors and opens them. We seem to be in space, there are even pieces of rock floating by. 

“But we’re in space. How’d that happen? What did you do?” Donna asks us, voice sharp. 

The Doctor rushes over to the console and checks the monitor. “We haven’t moved. We’re fixed. It can’t have. No.” He rushes back over to the open doors. “The Tardis is still in the same place, but the Earth has gone. The entire planet. It’s gone.”


	8. Topsy Turvy (Stolen Earth)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am honestly blown away by the reception this has gotten in the last month. People seem to be enjoying it. As something that started as an experiment, something that I wasn't sure I was even going to get off the ground, it's incredibly uplifting. 
> 
> Don't worry, this isn't me saying that I'm not going to continue the story! I'm still going to try and upload every 4 days. 
> 
> Thank you guys, for your kind words and your encouragement. 
> 
> ~RainingCoffee

My mouth drops open in shock. “What do you mean the Earth is gone? How is that possible?” 

Donna looks panicked. “But if the Earth's been moved, they've lost the Sun. What about my Mum? And Granddad? They're dead, aren't they? Are they dead?” She frantically asks the Doctor. 

The Doctor rubs his hands through his hair. I can feel his shock, his uncertainty. “I don't know, Donna. I just don't know. I'm sorry, I don't know.”

“That’s my family. My whole world.” She murmurs. 

The Doctor shakes his head sharply, running back over to the monitor. He presses some buttons, intently watching the information run past. “There's no readings. Nothing. Not a trace. Not even a whisper.” He wipes a hand over his mouth. “Oh, that is fearsome technology.”

I walk over to him, grabbing his free hand. He grips back tightly. “So what do we do?” I ask him. 

The Doctor looks over at me, his mouth in a tight line. He isn’t pleased. “We go to get help.”

“From where?” Donna asks him. 

The Doctor drops my hand. Running around the console, he starts inputting a new destination. “I’m taking us to the Shadow Proclamation. Hold tight.”

Shadow Proclamation, he’s mentioned that before I think. When he was dealing with the Atraxi. I grab on to the railing, noticing Donna doing the same beside me. 

“So, go on then, what is the Shadow Proclamation anyway?” Donna yells over at the Doctor. 

“Posh name for police. Outer space police. Here we go.” The Doctor responds, pulling the lever for materialization. 

He leads the way out of the Tardis. As soon as we step foot off of the ship we are stopped by several Judoon. 

One Judoon steps forward and starts speaking. “Sco bo tro no flo jo ko fo to to.”

“No bo ho sho ko ro to so. Bokodozogobofopojo.” The Doctor responds, and the Judoon come to attention. “Moho.”

Whatever he said must have been the right thing. The Judoon lead us up to a woman with white hair and red eyes. 

The Doctor leans over to us. “This is the architect, she runs this place.” 

The woman stares at us, a cool look on her face. “Time Lords are the stuff of legend. They belong in the myths and whispers of the Higher Species. You cannot possibly exist.”

I can feel the Doctor’s impatience before he even speaks. “Yeah. More to the point, I’ve got a missing planet.” 

“Then you're not as wise as the stories would say. The picture is far bigger than you imagine. The whole universe is in outrage, Doctor. Twenty four worlds have been taken from the sky.” She informs us. 

His face scrunches up in confusion. “How many? Which ones? Show me.” He jogs over to join the architect at her computer screen. 

The architect points at something on the screen. “Locations range far and wide, but all disappeared at the exact same moment, leaving no trace.”

The Doctor leans in, examining the data. “Callufrax Minorr. Jahoo. Shallacatop. Woman Wept. Clom. Clom's gone? Who'd want Clom?”

“All different sizes. Some populated, some not. But all unconnected.” The architect says, ignoring his question. 

Donna frowns for a second, before piping up. “What about Pyrovillia?”

The architect looks over at Donna. “Who is the female?” I bristle, about to come to Donna’s defense but she beats me to it. 

“Donna.” She says. “I'm a human being. Maybe not the stuff of legend but every bit as important as Time Lords, thank you.” Focusing back on the Doctor, she continues. “Way back, when we were in Pompeii, Lucius said Pyrovillia had gone missing.” Oh, she’s clever. I knew I was going to like her. 

One of the Judoon speaks. “Pyrovillia is cold case. Not relevant.” 

“How do you mean, cold case?” Donna asks, confused. 

The architect shakes her head. “The planet Pyrovillia cannot be part of this. It disappeared over two thousand years ago.” 

Donna ignores that. “Yes, yes, hang on. But there's the Adipose breeding planet, too. Miss Foster said that was lost, but that must've been a long time ago.” 

The Doctor’s face lights up. “That's it! Donna, brilliant. Planets are being taken out of time as well as space. Let's put this into 3-D.” Holograms of the missing planets start to fill the room. “Now, if we add Pyrovillia and Adipose Three. Something missing. Where else, where else, where else? Where else lost, lost, lost, lost. Oh! The Lost Moon of Poosh!” 

With the addition of the Lost Moon of Poosh, all of the planets suddenly reorganize themselves. 

“What did you do?” The Architect asks, confused. 

“Nothing.” The Doctor responds. “The planets rearranged themselves into the optimum pattern. Oh, look at that. Twenty seven planets in perfect balance. Come on, that is gorgeous.” He smiles over at me, which I return half heartedly. 

Donna gets a look on her face, like she would smack him if he wasn’t in front of someone important. “Oi, don't get all spaceman. What does it mean?”

He winces, like he knows the danger he is in. “All those worlds fit together like pieces of an engine. It's like a powerhouse. What for?” He mutters to himself. 

The architect still looks confused. “Who could design such a thing?”

The Doctor’s eyes are far away, thinking. “Someone tried to move the Earth once before. Long time ago. Can't be.” He walks over to the Architect and starts speaking with her quietly. Donna wanders off, going to sit down on the stairs. 

I walk over to the Doctor. Most of what him and the architect are discussing is way over my head. The architect looks at me a few times in confusion. Probably wondering why I was there. 

I rock back and forth on my heels, debating on what to do. Laying a hand on the Doctor’s arm to get his attention, I let him know that I’m going to explore a bit. He nods distractedly. 

I head off towards the area we first came in from. There is a woman, she is filling some glasses with water. “Hello there.” I say to her. 

She seems nervous, her eyes dart up to me before looking back to her task. I reach out, holding the glass while she pours. “Thank you, ma’am.” She says to me, her voice soft. 

“It’s my pleasure.” I say, smiling ruefully. “Honestly I kind of feel unneeded here. I don’t really understand what they are talking about. At least I can help someone out.” 

He eyes suddenly focus on mine. The color of her eyes are an unsettling red. “You fell through the blackness.” 

I frown at her. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

She continues to stare at me. “You were never supposed to be here. You didn’t exist, and now you do. Everything that was once fixed is now in flux.” 

Every word she says makes something in me shake. Something in the core of me knows these words to be true. This was never a place I was supposed to be. I mentally reach out for the Doctor, unsettled. 

“The world is compensating around you.” Repeating herself, she keeps repeating. “You shouldn’t exist.” 

My vision starts to waver, I can’t look away from her. 

Suddenly, a hand covers my eyes, breaking the contact between me and the woman. She stops repeating. I gasp in a deep breath of air, leaning back into the frame of the Doctor. 

“What is going on.” He demands. His voice is cold. I shiver, the very fabric of my being is vibrating. 

The architect’s voice sounds out to my left. “I’m sorry, she has the sight. Sometimes the things she says can be upsetting to people.” 

I can feel the Doctor tilt his head to the side, his voice is still glacial. “I’ve met people with the sight. That wasn’t just pre-knowledge, your associate here was pulling Mabel in.” His hand tightens around my eyes. 

I swallow, forcing my breathing to even out. Sending a tendril of mental energy out, I’m met by the Doctor meeting me halfway. He draws me into his side of the connection, surrounding me with comfort. The shaking in my soul comes to a stop, I no longer feel as though I’m going to fall apart at the seams. 

“What the fuck was that?” I ask, voice stronger than I thought it would be. The Doctor drops his hand, allowing me to see. The woman who I had been talking to looks terrified. She’s shaking where she stands, eyes directed to the floor. Shifting my eyes to the architect, I notice that she looks frightened too. Even Donna looks unsettled. I reach back, my hand touching the Doctor’s thigh. 

3 seconds pass

The world tilts, something snaps back into place. The architect and the woman who I had been talking to finally take a breath. I hadn’t even realized they were holding it. The Doctor’s forehead falls to the back of my neck. 

The architect shakes her head as if clearing her thoughts. “We are still going to have to seize your transport Doctor.”

The Doctor laughs bitterly, breath feathering out against my neck. “Oh, really? What for?”

“The planets were stolen with hostile intent. We are declaring war, Doctor, right across the universe, and you will lead us into battle!” The architect exclaims.

“Right. Yes. Course I will.” He raises his head, grabbing my hand and dragging me along with him. “I'll just go and get you the key.” He jerks his head at Donna. She follows us into the Tardis. The Doctor locks the door behind him, running over to the console and pulling the dematerialization lever. 

The Tardis takes off, the voice of the architect yelling for us to come back is fading as we disappear. 

“If we can follow the trail that the bees left, The Tandocca Trail, then we might find where the Earth has gone.” The Doctor explains. 

The Tardis stops wheezing, indicating that we have arrived. 

The Doctor looks surprised. “It's stopped.” 

“What do you mean? Is that good or bad? Where are we?” Donna looks at him, confused. 

The Doctor focuses on the monitor. “The Medusa Cascade. I came here when I was just a kid, ninety years old. It was the center of a rift in time and space.” I walk over to the monitor, it’s showing a huge multi-colored nebula.

Donna comes over as well. “So, where are the twenty seven planets?”

“Nowhere. The Tandocca Trail stops dead. End of the line.” He says to her. 

“So what do we do? Doctor, what do we do?” Donna asks him. He looks up at her, but doesn’t say anything. “Now don't do this to me. No, don't. Don't do this to me. Not now. Tell me, what are we going do? You never give up. Please.”

The Doctor averts his gaze. She looks at me. I hesitate, biting my lip. 

“This can’t be all.” I say out loud. The Doctor looks up at me, the trust in his gaze is humbling. “You tracked the signal to this very spot. There has to be something here.” The more I say, the more confident I am that I am right. “What if there is something here, but we just can’t see it?” I ask the Doctor. 

His eyebrows come down in contemplation. He starts to respond, but a phone starts to ring. “Phone!” He exclaims, face lighting up. The Doctor reaches into hole on the console and pulls a flip phone out of it. “Martha, is that you?” He pauses for a second. “it’s a signal.”

Donna’s face lights up. “Can we follow it?”

The Doctor pulls out a stethoscope, placing the end on the phone. “Oh just you watch me!” He adjusts a couple of switches. “Got it. Locking on.” 

The Tardis shakes violently, more violent than usual. There are bangs, and even flames shooting out of grating. 

“We're travelling through time. One second in the future. The phone call's pulling us through.” The Doctor grins, manic. “Three, two, one.” There is one last large bang, then the Tardis stops shaking.   
On the monitor all 27 of the lost planets pop into existence. 

“Twenty seven planets. And there's the Earth. But why couldn't we see them?” Donna asks breathlessly.

“Mabel was right. The planets were here, they were just hidden. The entire Medusa Cascade has been put a second out of sync with the rest of the universe. Perfect hiding place. Tiny little pocket of time. But we found them.” The monitor starts fritzing out. Going in and out of focus. “Ooo, ooo, ooo, what's that? Hold on, hold on. Some sort of Subwave Network.”

The Doctor reaches over and fiddles with a lever. Four different boxes show up. One showing Donna and the Doctor. One with Martha and an older women, maybe her mother? One showing a boy and an older woman. The last one shows a very familiar man. I would recognize those eyes anywhere. 

I take a step backwards, making sure I’m out of frame. That man, he was the one who had pushed me in front of the car. The thing that started all of this. 

As soon as the man can see the Doctor, he snaps. “Where the hell have you been?” His voice is sharp. “Doctor it’s the Daleks!”

Several of the people on the screen start talking at once. “It’s the Daleks. They’re taking people to their spaceship.”- “It’s not just Dalek Caan.”

The Doctor beams. “Sarah Jane. Who's that boy? That must be Torchwood. Oh, they're brilliant.” He looks over to me. “Look at all of them, they’re all so clever.” 

I smile at him, fond. “Of course they’re clever.” 

“Look that’s Martha.” Donna points to the screen. “And who’s he?” 

The Doctor’s face falls a bit. “Captain Jack. Don't. Just don't.”

She laughs in delight. “It’s like an outer space Facebook.” 

“Everyone except Rose.” The Doctor murmurs. 

The monitor flickers again, going blank. The Doctor makes a sound of frustration, readjusting a couple settings. 

“We’ve lost them!” Donna cries. 

“No, no, no, no, no. There's another signal coming through. There's someone else out there. Hello?” He exclaims, smacking the top of the monitor. “Can you hear me? Rose?”

“Your voice is different, and yet its arrogance is unchanged.” A strange, two toned voice says. The Doctor’s face goes slack, shock clear in his features. “Welcome to my new empire Doctor.” The monitor pops back on, but this time it is just one person. If you can call what is on the screen a person. It has the face of a human, but there is a glowing blue eye in his forehead. “It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, lord and creator of the Dalek race.”

Donna looks back and forth between the screen and the Doctor. “Doctor?”

Davros waits for several seconds. “Have you nothing to say?”

I reach out, placing a hand on the Doctor’s shoulder. He leans into the contact. I press towards him mentally, offering encouragement. 

He leans forward, intent on the screen. The shock is gone from his face now, only determination. “You were destroyed. In the very first year of the Time War, at the Gates of Elysium. We saw your command ship fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. We tried to save you.”

“But it took one stronger than you.” Davros interjects. “Dalek Caan himself.”

A voice comes from off screen, it sounds unhinged. “I flew into the wild and fire. I danced and died a thousand times.”

Davros leans forward a bit. “Emergency Temporal Shift took him back into the Time War itself.”

The Doctor’s face crumples, anger and fear warring with each other. “But that's impossible. The entire War is timelocked.”

“And yet he succeeded. Oh, it cost him his mind, but imagine. A single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed.” Spite is prevalent in Davros’s voice. “A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?”

Anger seems to win. “And you made a new race of Daleks.” The Doctor states. 

Davros reaches down and starts unbuttoning with his shirt. “I gave myself to them, quite literally. Each one grown from a cell of my own body.” He pulls the shirt open, showing bare ribs. You can see his organs pulsing away under the small amount of skin he has left. “New Daleks. True Daleks. I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now?”

The Doctor’s jaw clenches. “After all this time, everything we saw, everything we lost, I have only one thing to say to you. Bye!” He reaches over, throwing a lever up and the Tardis jerks in flight. 

We land and I open the doors hesitantly. The Doctor seems to have landed us in front of a creepy old church. The sight of the planets in the sky is unsettling, strange. 

I shiver. The Doctor’s hands come down on my arms. He rubs them up and down vigorously, trying to warm me up. 

“Like a ghost town.” Donna says, looking around. Car doors have been left open, lights are on but no one is here. 

The Doctor releases me, turning to Donna. “Sarah Jane said they were taking the people. What for? Think, Donna. When you met Rose in that parallel world, what did she say?”

“Just, the darkness is coming.” She responds. 

“Anything else?” He asks her, urgent. 

Donna shakes her head, before focusing on something behind us. A smile starts to form on her lips. “Why don't you ask her yourself?” We both whirl around. Rose is there, walking towards us. 

I grab the Doctor’s hand and pull him forward. He grips mine tight in response, urging me into a run. Rose’s face lights up, she starts running towards us as well. 

There is a noise. A kind of computerized voice. “Exterminate.” It says. The Doctor shoves me away and I hit the ground hard. An energy beam comes out of nowhere, grazing his side. His body lights up, showing his skeleton. I lunge for him, managing to catch him just before he hits the ground. 

I can hear the sounds of something exploding in the background. Voices are yelling. I tune everything out but the Doctor. He grimaces. Whatever hit him, it was incredibly damaging. I can feel him trying to put up walls to shield me. “Hey now.” I say, my voice shaky. “None of that. Pain shared is pain halved.” I grab his hand, opening our connection wide. His pain is my pain. His breathing evens out. 

I look up, Rose is kneeling next to us. “Look Doctor, it’s Rose.” 

He smiles up at her. “Long time no see.” Our hands are linked. The only sign of his pain is how white our knuckles are from grasping each other’s hand. 

Rose laughs, smiling back at him. “Yeah. Been busy, you know. Don't die. Oh, my God. Don't die.”

Captain Jack comes into my line of vision. I hadn’t realized he was there. “Get him into the Tardis, quick. Move.” Jack barks. 

I position my shoulder under the Doctor’s arm and gently leverage him to his feet. He leans on me heavily. We slowly make our way over to the Tardis. Rose and Jack keep their attention on our surroundings. Making sure another sneak attack doesn’t happen. 

The Doctor’s hand starts to faintly glow. This is wrong, I’ve seen this face regenerate before. I was there. This isn’t where this is supposed to happen. 

We clear the doorway, everyone filtering in after us. 

“What, what do we do? There must be some medicine or something.” Donna asks, looking around at all of us. 

Jack shakes his head. “Just step back. You too Rose, do as I say, and get back. He's dying and you know what happens next.”

There are tears in Donna’s eyes. “What do you mean? He can't.”

“Oh, no. I came all this way.” Rose also has tears in her eyes. 

Donna suddenly looks over at Jack in suspicion. “Wait, what do you mean, what happens next?” 

The Doctor’s hand starts to glow again. He stands up properly, no longer using my shoulder as a crutch. “It's starting.”

I grab his hand, placing a kiss on his palm. “See you on the other side Doctor.” Stepping away, I let his hand slip from my grip. 

Jacks hand comes down on my shoulder and I jerk away from him. Shaking his head, Jack refocuses on the Doctor. “Here we go. Good luck, Doctor.”

“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” Donna frantically asks. 

“When he's dying, his er, his body, it repairs itself. It changes. But you can't!” Rose pleads with him. 

I shoot her a look. I mean yeah his body will change, but that doesn’t mean anything in the long run. 

“I'm sorry, it's too late.” The Doctor tells her. “I'm regenerating!” He throws his arms out from his sides and the regeneration energy starts pouring from him. It’s so bright that I can see Donna, Rose, and Jack looking away from beside me. 

I don’t. I can’t look away. With what looks to be an effort, the Doctor moves his body. Bringing his arms together, he directs the regeneration energy into a glass container that appears to have a hand in it. The energy he is expelling stops, and the Doctor stumbles back a few steps. The same Doctor, the one with the great hair, stands before us. 

“Now then. Where were we?” We all just gape at him. That’s not how it happened before!

The Doctor runs over to the container that he poured his regeneration energy into. “There now.” He blows on the jar and the golden glow it is emanating disappears. “You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but soon as I was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to. Why would I?” The Doctor preens, straightening his tie. “Look at me. So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle, namely my hand. My hand there. My handy spare hand.” Looking at Rose, he beams at her. “Remember? Christmas Day, Sycorax. Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand. What do you think?”

Rose steps forward. “You're still you?” She asks him. 

“I’m still me.” He confirms. Rose lunges forward, catching him in a hug. He returns it, just as happy to see her. 

Donna turns to Jack. “You can hug me, if you want.” She tells him. He laughs. “No, really. You can hug me.”

I roll my eyes at her. Careful Donna, there is such a thing as too keen. 

The Doctor pulls back from Rose and catches my hand, twirling me around and then pulling me into his chest. “Hello Doctor.” I say, beaming up at him. 

“So what do you think?” He waggles his eyebrows. “Still the same as ever?” 

I laugh at him. “Oh Doctor, you’re never the same. But yes, you are amazing, you big old sap.” 

His eyes soften. “A sap huh? Well then, I suppose I am.” The Doctor leans in, kissing me. 

There is a strange zing to the kiss, one that isn’t normally there. I pull back. As I breath out, gold particles flow from my mouth. “Woah.” I gasp. The Doctor laughs at me. 

To the side, Donna is finally getting her hug from Jack. Rose is looking at us with fondness. 

I nod over to Jack. Lowering my voice till it’s almost inaudible. “So what’s his story then. Is he trustworthy?” 

The Doctor looks surprised, then understanding. He responds to me, his voice almost inaudible too. “It’s okay. I know he feels wrong. Something happened, our fault. Made him a fixed point. That’s why it’s uncomfortable to be around him.” 

I frown at the Doctor. “That’s not what I meant. I don’t care that he feels wrong. It’s just that, well, I’ve met him before. Before I even met you. He’s the reason this all started.” 

The Doctor’s mouth drops open in shock. Before he can respond, Jack clears his throat. “Are you two done canoodling over there?” I shoot Jack a look. He grimaces. “I’m guessing this is the first time you’ve met me?” He asks me. 

“No.” I tell him. He looks surprised, then hurt. “The first time I saw you was the time you pushed me out into the street and I got hit by a car.” The Doctor tenses at my side. His emotions shift, swirling dangerously.

Jack swallows. “Ah.” He says. “That would explain all the strange looks then.” 

“You did what?!” The Doctor explodes, stalking towards Jack. 

“Doctor!” I exclaim, trying to get him to stop.

Jack’s hands come up. “I don’t know what’s she’s talking about! It must be something that hasn’t happened yet. Doctor!” 

I dart in between them, placing a hand on the Doctor’s chest. He comes to a halt. The look on his face is predatory. “You need to calm down.” I tell him. 

The Doctor’s jaw clenches. His eyes are burning. “I’ve seen the scar left by the car.” His hand comes out and traces the lines through my shirt. 

“And that’s my problem Doctor. I asked you if he was trustworthy because I wanted your opinion. Not because I wanted you to go all caveman on him.” He opens his mouth to argue, but I wave a hand at him. “No. I don’t need you to fight my battles for me.” 

I turn to Jack. “Sorry about all this. I can see that you honestly have no idea what I’m talking about.” I smile ruefully. “And now that I’ve told you about it, you are going to have to do it.” 

Jack’s eyes flick over my shoulder, before refocusing on me. He uses his still raised hands to harshly wipe at his face. “So you’re telling me that I push you in front of a car, and that’s the first time you ever see me?”

“Yep.” I say, popping the p. The Doctor is still hovering over my shoulder, radiating disapproval. Probably giving Jack the stink eye, if the way Jack keeps glancing past me is any indication.

Before I can give him any more details, all the lights go out. The Doctor rushes over to the console, and tries toggling a few levers. “They've got us. Power's gone. Some kind of chronon loop.” 

The Tardis jerks, tilting. 

“There's a massive Dalek ship at the center of the planets. They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination.” Jack informs us. 

Donna looks at the Doctor. “You said these planets were like an engine. But what for?”

The Doctor shakes his head. “Rose, you've been in a parallel world. That world's running ahead of this universe. You've seen the future. What was it?”

Rose frowns. “It’s the darkness.” 

Donna’s eyes go unfocussed. “The stars were going out.”

“One by one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dying.” Rose explains. “Basically, we've been building this, er, this travel machine, this, this er, dimension cannon, so I could. Well, so I could” 

She hesitates, flushing. “What?” I ask her. 

“So I could come back.” Rose says. “Anyway, suddenly, it started to work and the dimensions started to collapse. Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole of reality. Even the Void was dead. Something is destroying everything.”

Donna frowns at her. “In that parallel world, you said something about me.”

Rose nods. “The dimension cannon could measure timelines, and it's, it's weird, Donna, but they all seemed to converge on you.” 

“But why me?” Donna asks. “I mean, what have I ever done? I'm a temp from Chiswick.” 

“Because your brilliant Donna.” I tell her. 

The scanner on the console beeps. The Doctor looks at the information. “The Dalek Crucible. All aboard.”

An ominous voice reverberates from outside the door. “Doctor, you will step forth or die.”

“We'll have to go out. Because if we don't, they'll get in.” The Doctor informs us. 

“You told me nothing could get through those doors.” Rose says, confused. 

Jack nods. “You've got extrapolator shielding.” 

The Doctor shakes his head. “Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids, and mad. But this is a fully-fledged Dalek Empire, at the height of its power. Experts at fighting Tardises, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door is just wood.”

Looking desperate, Jack turns to Rose. “What about your dimension jump?”

She shakes her head. “It needs another twenty minutes. And anyways, I'm not leaving.”

The Doctor frowns. Nodding towards a device on Jacks wrist, he asks. “What about your teleport?”

Jack shakes his head too. “Went down with the power loss.”

The Doctor takes a deep breath. “Right then. All of us together. Yeah.”

I look over at the redhead who had been uncharacteristically quiet. “Donna?” 

She jolts, looking like I had just woken her from a dream. “Yeah?”

The Doctor sends her an apologetic look. “I'm sorry. There's nothing else we can do.”

Donna nods. “No, I know.”

“Daleks.” Rose laughs. 

“Oh, God.” Jack says, with a smile of his own.

The Doctor starts walking towards the doors, then whirls around to face us. “It's been good, though, hasn't it? All of us. All of it. Everything we did.” He looks over at Donna. “You were brilliant.” He shifts his attention to Jack. “And you were brilliant.” Then he turns to face Rose. “And you were brilliant.” Looking up at me, he finishes. “And you Mabel, you were more than brilliant. You were amazing. Blimey.” I feel how much these words cost him. 

I smile at him, even though it’s breaking my heart to do so. “Don’t forget yourself Doctor. You were amazing too.” He smiles at me, just a twitch of the lips really. Then he straightens his shoulders and walks out the door, into the heart of the crucible.

Donna lags behind. I gesture at the door, where everyone is filing out. “You ready?” 

“Yeah.” She says quietly, following me towards the door. The sounds of the Daleks are nearly deafening as they chant. 

“Mabel? Donna?” The Doctor calls to us. “You’re no safer in there.” 

The Tardis doors suddenly shut, separating me and Donna from the rest of them. 

“Doctor!” I exclaim. The door won’t open no matter how hard I pull. 

Donna starts smacking the door. “Doctor? What have you done?”

The Doctor’s voice faintly comes from the other side of the doors. “It wasn't me. I didn't do anything.”

“Oi! Oi, I'm not staying behind!” She yells at out him.

“Doctor! Let us out!” I order. 

There are muffled voices, like people are talking back and forth. Then the floor drops out from under us. That’s what it feels like at least. The Doctor’s desperation and fear hit me like a tank to the gut. 

Roundels on the wall start exploding in, fires start coming up from the grating. I roll myself onto my front. 

Donna is on the grating near the console. She reaches out and touches the glass container that houses the Doctor’s spare hand. As soon as she touches it, regeneration energy starts to flow into her. “Donna!” I scream, pushing myself up and trying to stop her. 

The container breaks, and the hand lies on the floor. It’s twitching. I reach Donna, pulling her back from it.

The hand starts leaking the energy, then the glow expands to a whole body. Suddenly, it jerks into a sitting position. Gold residue falls off of it, showing the body underneath. It’s the Doctor! But not the Doctor. 

“It’s you!” Donna gasps. 

“Oh yes!” The Doctor exclaims. 

“You’re naked!” I shout, covering Donna’s eyes. 

“Oh yes.” He confirms. The Tardis jerks to the left, and he jumps to his feet rushing to the console and pressing a button. 

The Tardis makes the sound of dematerialization. I sag against the coral strut behind me in relief. We are safe. I try to reach out to the Doctor mentally, but I hit a solid wall instead. 

“There, she should start repairing herself now that we are out of the Crucibles core.” The Doctor explains. He’s still naked, which means I’m still covering Donna’s eyes. Which she’s starting to get increasingly upset about. 

“Doctor!” I shout at him. He looks over at me attentively. “Are we still in danger? I mean right at this moment.” 

He shakes his head, full of manic energy. “Nope!” 

“Then go put some clothes on!” Donna yells. “I’m tired of Mabel covering my eyes.”

The Doctor’s face twitches, like he’s forgotten about the fact that he is naked again. “Oh. That’s a good idea.” 

I shoo him down the hallway, waiting until he is out of sight before taking my hand from Donna’s eyes. I kneel down, grabbing her hands. “Are you okay Donna?” I ask her. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?” She asks me, confused. There doesn’t seem to be any repercussions to the regeneration energy flowing into her that I can see. 

“Nothing.” I tell her, smiling. “I’m just glad you’re okay.” 

“Of course I’m okay, silly.” Donna rolls her eyes at me. “Now go after that skinny alien of yours. He just grew himself out of a hand, who knows what kind of consequences that can have.”

I tilt my head in contemplation, before springing to my feet. “Oh my god Donna, why would you say that? Now I’m thinking about it.” I take off for the hallway. The old girl takes pity on me, I only have to turn two corridors before I find the door that signifies our room. 

“Doctor?” I call, as I run through the door. 

A faint confirmation reaches me from the closet. I dart through the door, but the Doctor doesn’t seem to be in any pain or anything. He’s just debating ties. “What do you think Mabel? Black or grey?” 

I lean over, putting my hands on my knees as I gasp for breath. “With that outfit, neither.” I tell him. He’s changed into a pair of blue slacks and a maroon shirt. 

“What’s the matter?” He asks me, frowning at the position I’m in. 

“Donna was filling my head with all sorts of horror scenarios. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.” I explain, finally catching enough breath to stand up properly. 

The Doctor rolls his eyes. “Y’know Donna watches those cheesy alien horror shows, don’t let her wild theories get to you.” 

Pursing my lips, I narrow my eyes at him. “Considering you just grew out of a hand, I think you can forgive me for being concerned.” 

He sends me an apologetic look. “Okay, Okay. You got me there. I’m fine, I promise.” Shrugging his blue jacket on, he grabs my arm and leads me towards the console room again. 

The Tardis seems to have repaired herself, just like the Doctor had said earlier. He goes over, wiping at one of the roundels. “All repaired. Lovely.” He brings up a finger to his lips. “Shush. No one knows we're here. Got to keep quiet. Silent running, like on submarines when you can't even drop a spanner. Don't drop a spanner!” Gesturing down at his suit, he looks at Donna. “I like blue. What do you think?”

“You are bonkers!” She yells at him. 

The Doctor frowns, confused. “Why? What's wrong with blue?” 

For a genius, the Doctor can be awfully thick sometimes. 

Donna flails her hands. “Is that what Time Lords do? Lop a bit off, grow another one? You're like worms.”

The Doctor shakes his head. “No, no, no, no, no. I'm unique. Never been another like me. Because all that regeneration energy went into the hand.” He brings it up and wiggles his fingers. “Look at my hand. I love that hand. But then you touched it. Wham!” He yells at her, she yelps in surprise. “Shush. Instantaneous biological metacrisis. I grew out of you. Still, could be worse.”

“Oi, watch it, spaceman.” Donna scolds him. 

Immediately, the Doctor responds. “Oi, watch it, Earth girl. Ooo. I sound like you. I sound all, all sort of rough.” He pulls back in surprise.

Donna doesn’t like that. “Oi!”

“Oi!” The Doctor echoes again.

“Oi!” Donna looks incensed.

“Spanners. Shush. I must have picked up a bit of your voice, that's all. Is it? Did I?” He looks horrified. “No. Oh, you are kidding me. No way. One heart. I've only got one heart. This body has got only one heart.”

Donna reaches forward, touching his chest. “What, like you're human?” 

The Doctor’s face contorts. “Oh, that's disgusting.”

“Hey!” I yell, at the same time another ‘Oi!’ leaves Donna. 

The Doctor looks ready to retort, but them a look of realization crosses his face. “No, wait. I'm part Time Lord, part human. Well, isn't that wizard?”

Donna shakes her head. “I kept hearing that noise, that heartbeat.” 

The Doctor nods. “Oh, that was me. My single heart. Because I'm a complicated event in time and space. Must have rippled back, converging on you.”

“But why me?” She asks. 

“Because you're special.” He tells her, focusing on the console controls. 

“Oh, I keep telling you, I'm not.” She says. Her voice is sad. Oh Donna. 

The Doctor looks up at her. “No, but you are. Oh.” A sad look crosses his face. “You really don't believe that, do you? I can see, Donna, what you're thinking. All that attitude, all that lip, because all this time you think you're not worth it.”

Donna shakes her head. “Stop it.” 

“Shouting at the world because no one's listening. Well, why should they?” He continues. 

“Doctor! Stop.” I say to him, voice sharp. 

He smiles at Donna, gesturing to her. “But look at what you did.” His head tilts in contemplation. “No, it's more than that. It's like we were always heading for this. You came to the Tardis. And you found me again. Your granddad. Your car. Donna, your car. You parked your car right where the Tardis was going land. That's not coincidence at all! We've been blind. Something's been drawing us together for such a long time.”

“But you're talking like destiny. There's no such thing. Is there?” She asks, looking between the both of us. 

“It's still not finished. It's like the pattern's not complete. The strands are still drawing together. But heading for what?” He focuses on me. “You can feel it too can’t you?” 

I frown. “I don’t know. There’s something, but I can’t tell what.” 

He grimaces. The Tardis shakes again, tossing us around the console. The Doctor looks at the monitor. “It's the planets. The twenty seven planets.” He leans his head on his hand, watching the energy gather. “Single string Z-neutrinos compressed.” Horror fills his face. “No way.” 

“What was it?” Donna asks the Doctor. He doesn’t respond. “Doctor, what did it do?” 

The Tardis makes a beep. A slot opens up, something the looks like a remote control popping up. The Doctor looks up at the ceiling, a deeply thankful look on his face. “Thank you.” He reaches over and grabs the remote. 

“Mabel, I need you to step away from Donna now.” He tells me. 

“Okay.” I respond, confused, as I take a few steps away from Donna. “What’s all this about?” 

He rubs his face with one hand, looking conflicted. “I don’t like to use this, in fact I’ve kept it hidden for a long while. The first time I used it, you threw a fit so huge I thought you were going to slap me into my next regeneration.” He presses a button on it while pointing it at me. 

Nothing happens. “What was that?” 

“The twenty seven planets are an engine, I said that earlier. Well it turns out that it’s purpose is to destabilize the electrical field around atoms. Rose said the stars were dying. This is what she saw. The death of the universe.” He sighs. “I can’t have you here right now.”

“Well I’m not leaving.” I insist. 

He smiles at me. “Yes, you are.” 

I scoff at him. “What are-“ But I can feel it. The fire is starting. My hands start glowing. I look up at him in horror. “That remote.” 

“I don’t know if we’ll survive this. I hope we do.” His face goes soft, fond. “I hope you give me hell if you see me in the future.” 

Tears fill my eyes. He’s sending me away. “Why?” I ask him. The flames are high now. Engulfing most of my body. 

“Because I love you. And I will save your life in any way I can. Even if it means doing this.” He responds. 

And my world goes white.


	9. A little more alien (The end of the World)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a dialogue heavy chapter. 
> 
> I forgot how much I loved this Doctor until I was writing him. Hopefully You guys enjoy him as much as I do. 
> 
> ~RainingCoffee

I reappear. My body is sore, and I feel nauseous, but it’s all an afterthought to the pain in my chest. Loud, harsh sobs pour forth from my body. 

That man. That impossible man. He sent me away. 

I’m not sure how long I stay curled up on the floor. Eventually my tears start to dry up. I use my arm to wipe across my face. Leaning back from my hunched position on the floor, I take in where I am. It’s the Tardis, with it’s coral arches and grating. 

“Is the Doctor here?” I ask the Tardis. She hums back a negative. Outside then. “Thanks dear.” 

I open the door to find myself in some sort of corridor. There is a window, I see space staring back at me from it. Looks like I’m on some sort of space station. 

Music starts to play, some catchy song I remember hearing on the radio. I head towards it, and once I enter the room it’s coming from, I am struck by all the different species of aliens there. Aliens that look like trees, some that were giant birds, some who were just blue. It was amazing! The Face of Boe is over in the corner, and I mentally wave at him. 

I spin around, taking everything in. There’s a flash of blonde that catches my attention, and I look over. It’s Rose. Standing next to her is a man in a leather jacket, who I’m fairly certain is the Doctor. “Doctor, Rose!” I call out. 

The Doctor’s head snaps up, a look of shock followed by relief fliting across his face. The connection snaps open allowing me to feel his grief and his desperate hope. I stumble back under the barrage. He sprints across the room, throwing his arms around me. “Mabel, you’re here. You’re actually here.” He whispers. 

I pat him on the back, somewhat bewildered. “Yeah big guy, I’m here.” He pulls back from the hug and I see there are tears in his eyes. He leans down, kissing me. It starts out rough. There is a hint of teeth, but he gentles the kiss into something more adoring. 

I have a feeling that something incredibly bad has happened. Never have I seen the Doctor like this before. 

I open my mental doors just a tiny bit wider, letting him in deeper than I normally would. He sobs quietly, tearing his mouth from mine.

Rose clears her throat. “Um, maybe we should go somewhere else? People are staring.” She interrupts, uncomfortable. The Doctor doesn’t respond, in fact he doesn’t move at all, just stares at me like I’m the very stars he always runs to. I put an arm around his waist, turning and directing him away from the crowd. We find a small viewing room off a side corridor and I lead him there. Rose smiles at me a little weakly, before walking off and leaving us alone. 

I pull the both of us down to sit on the stairs, wrapping my arms around him. The Doctor curls his body further into the cradle of mine. Which is a feat. I’m 5 foot 2 inches and I’m fairly certain he’s pushing 6 feet.

I hum quietly, a lullaby that I remember from my childhood. Slowly, incrementally, the Doctor starts to relax. His back unclenches from the curl he’s forced it into, head rising. “Hey there.” I say to him softly, raising a hand from his back to cup his cheek. 

He leans into my touch, the look on his face is sad. “I thought-With what I-“ He starts and skips around. “I didn’t think I would ever see you anymore.” He finishes, loneliness coming from his side of the connection. Raw, heart breaking loneliness. 

I tighten my arm, and send all the comfort, safety, and affection that I have in my body. “You aren’t alone Doctor.” I tell him. “And I have it under good authority that you see me pretty often in the future.” 

His answering laugh is a little wet, but undeniably relieved. Reaching up, he cradles my head with his hands. Stoking the side of my face with his thumb, he pulls my head down into another kiss. I reciprocate, but back off when he tries to deepen it. 

“What the matter?” He asks me, confused. 

I smooth the collar of his leather jacket down. “I get that something happened and you’re very happy to see me right now. But I’m incredibly upset with a future you, and I’m not in the mood for kissing.”

His eyes scan me, narrowing in on my face. Probably noticing the redness around my eyes and nose from crying earlier. 

I narrow my eyes at him. “I don’t know when the next time I’ll see him. If I ever see him again.” Grabbing his shirt, I pull him down so that his face is right in front of mine. “So I’m going to tell you, and you better listen.” 

He tries to shift away, but I don’t allow him to. “I understand you want to protect me. I’ve told you this before in the future, and I have a feeling I’ve probably said it in the past. I can take care of myself. Don’t need you to do it for me. When it comes to my life. It is my choice to stand with you. You don’t have the right to make that choice for me. Do I make myself clear?”

The Doctor’s hands come up and grip mine. He leans back a bit, beaming at me. “Oh Mabel. I’ve missed you.” 

“Hey!” I exclaim, angry. “Why are you smiling?” I’m trying to scold him and he’s happy about it?

He shakes his head, still smiling. “You were right earlier. I’m just very happy to see you.”

I frown at him. “I can’t even stay mad at this you, cause you haven’t done what I’m mad at you about.” If I see a future version-when I next see a future version of him, I’m going to chew him out. Thoroughly. 

“That’s why we normally try to finish any domestics right when they happen. You never know what version you’re going to meet next.” He admits. 

Pulling away, but keeping a hold of one of my hands, he puffs out his chest. “So, what do you think?” 

“Of what?” I ask him, confused. 

He rolls his eyes, sending exasperation across the connection. “Of this body.”

“Oh!” I take the opportunity to scan him properly. Even under his clothing, I can tell that the Doctor’s shoulders are broad. He has strong European features. A burgundy jumper under a black leather jacket, and black slacks completes the ensemble. It’s a little simple, but overall pleasing. “Amazing as always, sweetheart.” 

He preens, feeling pleased. I roll my eyes at him. 

“Anyways.” I say, standing up. He stands up with me. “We should probably be getting to Rose.” 

“You know her?” The Doctor asks, contemplative. 

I nod. “Yep. Rose is pretty awesome.” 

“Just met her the other day, she helped me out with the Nestene Consciousness. Thought I’d take her on a trip to say thank you.” He explains, leading the way father down the corridor. 

We find Rose in the next viewing room off the corridor. She looks a bit lost herself, but perks up as we walk in. 

“Hello Rose.” I say to her. 

She looks a little uncertain, and the Doctor elbows me gently. 

“She hasn’t met you yet.” He reminds me. 

“Oh! Whoops?” I twist my mouth into a grimace. “Sorry about that, I’m Mabel. You’ll normally find me around this sap over here.” I say, pointing at the Doctor. 

“Oi!” He exclaims. 

“I’m Rose. Rose Tyler.” Rose says to me, holding out a hand for me to shake. I shake it, then look out towards the view screen properly for the first time. 

I nod out into the abyss. “So what’s all this then? Where are we now?” 

“This is Platform 1, and that is the Earth.” He points out towards the planet. I send him a look. I clearly knew it was the earth. “It’s the year five point five slash apple slash twenty six. Today is the day the sun expands and destroys the Earth.“ 

My head snaps towards the Doctor in disbelief. “Whoa, wait a minute. Today is the day the Earth gets destroyed?” He nods, looking somber. “This is the place you take her? On her first trip, you take her here?” 

The Doctor deflates, looking sullen. “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Ooh!” Rose suddenly exclaims. 

We both turn our heads to look at her. “What?” We ask in unison. 

She starts giggling, flapping her hand at us. “I get it now.” 

I frown over at her. “Get what?” 

“You two are married, yeah?” She gestures between the two of us. “For a long while, I’d say.” 

My face instantly flushes. Married? I mean, twelve did have a ring on. 

Rose sends a confused look over my shoulder, and I turn to look. The Doctor pauses, his hand is raised in the middle of a slashing motion. He looks panicked. 

For some reason, the panic makes me feel calmer. I turn to look at him, crossing my arms. A smile pulls at my lips. “Yes Doctor, are we married?”

The panic on his face increases. “Uh-um, how old are you?” He winces. “No! Don’t answer that question. Uh- Spoilers?” 

I can’t help it. Laughter, from deep in my chest, bubbles forth. The look on his face is way to good. “I was just teasing you, hun.” 

He grumbles, but I feel his relief through the connection. Turning back to Rose, I smile at her confusion. “It’s a little complicated. I never meet the Doctor in the right order. It’s still relatively early days for me right now. He’s known me for a lot longer than I’ve known him.” Rose still looks confused. “So to answer your question. No, I’m not married. He might be, but I’m not.” 

“I’m confused.” She admits. 

“Good.” The Doctor states. “Being confused means you’re thinking.” He sits down next to her on the steps. “What do you think, then? About the station?”

Rose hesitates. “Great. Yeah, fine. Once you get past the slightly psychic paper. They're just so alien. The aliens are so alien. You look at 'em and they're alien.” 

“Blimey.’ The Doctor mutters. “Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South.”

“They all speak English.” Rose states. 

Leaning back on his hands, the Doctor shakes his head. “No, you just hear English. It's a gift of the Tardis. The telepathic field, gets inside your brain and translates.”

Rose looks startled. “It's inside my brain?”

“Well, in a good way.” He says. 

“Your machine gets inside my head. It gets inside and it changes my mind, and you didn't even ask?” She asks, looking increasingly upset. 

The Doctor grimaces. “I didn't think about it like that.”

Rose leans back, anger coming to the fore. “No, you were too busy thinking up cheap shots about the Deep South. Who are you, then, Doctor? What are you called? What sort of alien are you?”

“I'm just the Doctor.” He says, looking over to me. I shrug, my face scrunching in uncertainty. I had no idea how to help 

Rose won’t let it go though. “From what planet?” 

“Well, it's not as if you'll know where it is!” The Doctor exclaims. 

“Where are you from?” She asks again. 

Defensive now, his voice is sharp when he asks. “What does it matter?” 

“Tell me who you are!” She insists.

The Doctor stands up, gesturing at his chest. “This is who I am, right here, right now, all right? All that counts is here and now, and this is me.”

I can feel how raw saying those words makes him feel. 

Rose doesn’t notice, too focused on the tear she’s on. “Yeah, and I'm here too because you brought me here, so just tell me.”

I shake my head. “I get what he said about the Tardis freaked you out. It freaked me out too when I first found out. But don’t take it out on him. He doesn’t deserve it.” I shoot her a disappointed look, then stand up and join the Doctor in front of the viewing window he wandered over too. 

I’m not entirely sure what to do, so I just stand next to him. A computerized voice chimes from the ceiling. “Earth Death in twenty minutes. Earth Death in twenty minutes.”

Rose sighs from behind us. “All right. As my mate Shareen says, don't argue with the designated driver.” The tone of her voice is apologetic. Through the reflection in the window I can see her pull out her phone and press a button. “Can't exactly call for a taxi. There's no signal. We're out of range. Just a bit.”

The Doctor looks at her from the corner of his eyes. 

I nudge him with my arm, giving him a look. She’s trying to apologize without actually saying the words you dolt. 

The Doctor twitches his eyebrows at me, then reaches over grabbing the phone from her hands. “Tell you what.” He says, pulling the back off of her phone. “With a little bit of jiggery pokery.”

Rose lips pull up in a smile. “Is that a technical term, jiggery pokery?” 

The Doctor nods. He pulls the battery from the back of the phone. Dropping it into his pocket, he starts rummaging around. “Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery. What about you?”

“No, I failed hullabaloo.” She responds to him, teasing.

Finding what he was looking for, the Doctor pulls out a black battery pack from his coat to put back into the spot where he had pulled the battery from originally. The phone beeps. “Oh. There you go.” He hands the phone back to her, smiling. 

Rose clicks a button. The phone begins dialing. I hear a faint ‘Hello?’ from the phone before Rose wanders off to the other side of the room for privacy. 

“That was very kind.” I tell him, sending a wave of affection in his direction. 

The Doctor shifts, a pleased smile still on his face. “Dolt?” He asks. 

Whoops. “I didn’t mean to project that.” I tell him, rueful. 

He laughs. “You’re still a bit more-“ His face twitches, I can almost feel the neurons firing as he thinks. “-The connection is open more than most people would have it.” 

Oh! I flush in embarrassment. Ducking my head, I close my side of the connection. “Sorry.” Come to think of it, there’s been several times where I’ve jumped to a new place and the connection has been closed. It hadn’t occurred to me that even though I might enjoy being that open with the Doctor, he might not like being that open with me. 

The Doctor winces, his mouth opening to say something, but he gets interrupted. 

“That was my mum. I just talked to my mum.” Rose says, smiling. 

He shrugs. “Think that's amazing, you want to see the bill.”

Her face falls a bit. “That was five billion years ago. So, she's dead now. Five billion years later, my mum's dead.” 

I frown at her. “Cheery, aren’t you.” 

The space station beneath our feet suddenly shakes. 

“That’s not supposed to happen.” The Doctor says. There’s a hint of a smile hanging around his lips. 

He heads back towards to main room. I exchange a look with Rose, she’s visibly confused. “That man.” I tell her. “He always finds trouble no matter where he goes.” 

I link my arm through hers and pull her with me as I follow the Doctor. 

The intercom buzzes to life. A pleasant sounding person starts speaking. “Honored guests may be reassured that gravity pockets may cause slight turbulence, thanking you.”

It doesn’t take long at all to make it back to the main room. The Doctor rounds the corner and immediately starts touching a panel on the wall. 

“That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that.” He informs us. Turning slightly, he focuses on something behind me and Rose. “What do you think, Jabe? Listened to the engines. They've pitched up about thirty Hertz. That dodgy or what?”

Jabe shakes her head. “It's the sound of metal. It doesn't make any sense to me.”

“Where's the engine room?” He asks her. 

“I don't know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite.” Jabe gestures to me and Rose. “I could show you and your wives?”

The Doctor’s hands come up. “No, they aren’t my wives.” He says at the same time Rose goes “I’m not his wife.” 

Ouch. Instant denial. I exercise an iron grip over my emotions, making sure that nothing of what I was feeling was on my face. I was now incredibly glad that I had closed the connection when I had. 

Earlier, when I had teased him, I had been grateful when he hadn’t answered the question. Part of me wanted him to say yes, while the other part of me felt like it was moving too fast. But I guess now I had the answer.

Jabe looks at me, then at Rose, then back at the Doctor. “Concubines?”

I raise an eyebrow at her. “Excuse me. We’re standing right here.” 

“So sorry.” She directs to me. “Perhaps they’re your prostitutes?” Jabe asks the Doctor. 

“Whatever I am, it must be invisible. Do you mind?” Rose rolls her eyes. “Tell you what, you guys go check out the engine room. I'm going to catch up with family. Quick word with Michael Jackson.” She walks off in the direction of what appears to be a piece of stretched skin?

“Don't start a fight.” The Doctor calls after Rose. She waves her hand back at him in response. 

He offers Jabe his arm. “I'm all yours.” 

I roll my eyes, gesturing for them to go first down the hallway. Another computerized voice sounds over the intercom. “Earth Death in fifteen minutes. Earth Death in fifteen minutes.”

We round the corner to Jabe’s guest suite. She gestures to the hatch. “This is it.”

I pry the hatch open, stepping inside. It’s not horribly cramped. I can stand up with ease. Behind me I can hear the Doctor asking Jabe more questions. 

“Who's in charge of Platform One? Is there a Captain or what?” He asks her. 

“There's just the Steward and the staff.” She tells him. “All the rest is controlled by the metal mind.”

The Doctor pauses for a second. “You mean the computer? But who controls that?” 

Jabe sounds like she’s reciting something from memory. “The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another.”

The Doctor’s voice loses its light tone. “But there's no one from the Corporation on board.”

I can’t see it, but it sounds like there is a smile in Jabe’s voice. “They're not needed. This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the Alpha class. Nothing can go wrong.”

“Unsinkable?” The Doctor asks. 

“If you like. The nautical metaphor is appropriate.” She responds. 

“You're telling me. I was on board another ship once. They said that was unsinkable. I ended up clinging to an iceberg. It wasn't half cold.” He stops walking. I stop as well, turning back to look at them. “So, what you're saying is, if we get in trouble there's no one to help us out?”

Jabe shakes her head. “I'm afraid not.” 

The Doctor smiles. “Fantastic.” He starts walking down the maintenance hatch again, hand resting against my back to urge me forward. 

“I don't understand.” Jabe says confused. “In what way is that fantastic?” 

“It’s fantastic.” I raise my voice a bit so she can hear me. “Because trouble always seems to find the Doctor, and he’s grown to like it.” 

“Oi!” He complains. 

I look back at him. “It’s not like I’m saying anything that’s not true dear.” 

He grumbles. “Yeah, but not in front of the guest.”

I roll my eyes at him, turning back to look at where I’m going. 

The Doctor directs his attention back the Jabe. “So tell me, Jabe, what's a tree like you doing in a place like this?”

“Respect for the Earth.” She says. 

“Oh, come on. Everyone on this platform's worth zillions.” He says to her, voice skeptical. 

Jabe laughs. “Well, perhaps it's a case of having to be seen at the right occasions.”

“In case your share prices drop? I know you lot. You've got massive forests everywhere, roots everywhere, and there's always money in land.” I know him well enough to know he probably shook his head at that. 

“All the same, we respect the Earth as family. So many species evolved from that planet. Mankind is only one. I'm another. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below, and I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest.” She informs him. 

“Excuse me.” The Doctor mumbles, gripping the back of my shirt to stop me from continuing to walk. 

There is a panel. He starts scanning it with his sonic screwdriver. 

Jabe looks down. “And what about your ancestry, Doctor? Perhaps you could tell a story or two. Perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left. I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species. It refused to admit your existence. And even when it named you, I wouldn't believe it.” The Doctor refuses to look over at Jabe, concentrating far more than he needs to on the monitor in front of him. I place my hand on his shoulder. “But it was right. I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist. I just wanted to say how sorry I am.”

Reaching over, Jabe places a hand on his arm. There are tears in the Doctor’s eyes. My heart hurts for him. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on, but I don’t need to know. I pull the connection open again, just enough to send him my support. 

He grips onto my tentative mental probe with surprising force. Ratcheting the connection back open to where it was before. 

I stumble back, my hand falling off of his shoulder. The Doctor turns, pressing his forehead against mine. “Please. Please leave it open.” He implores. 

Bewildered, I pull back, rubbing my aching head. “I only closed it in the first place because I thought you wanted me to.” 

“No. I didn’t want you to.” He frowns, shaking his head. “I got a great big old gob this time around. Says things in ways I don’t mean them.” 

“Okay.” I tell him. Jabe is staring at us, and I’m acutely aware of it. “I’ll leave it open for now, I promise.”

The Doctor squeezes my hand, lips quirking in a smile. He turns back to the monitor. One last pass with the sonic screwdriver sees the door successfully opened. 

The Doctor and Jabe walk through first, I follow after. Inside the doorway is a huge room. We are on a small catwalk that has a series of large fans blocking the way. 

“Is it me, or is it a bit nippy?” The Doctor asks us. “Fair do's, though, that's a great bit of air conditioning. Sort of nice and old fashioned. Bet they call it retro.” He moves over to the panel next to us on the walkway, scanning it. It beeps. “Gotcha.” The Doctor murmurs. 

Pulling the front of the panel off, all of us are surprised when a metal spider scuttles out of it. I shriek, jumping behind the Doctor, using his body as a shield. The spider darts over to the wall and climbs up it. It’s trying to get away. 

“What the hell's that?” The Doctor asks. 

Jabe steps forwards. “Is it part of the retro?”

“I don't think so. Hold on.” He says while pulling his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. Before he can do anything with it though, Jabe throws an arm out. A piece of her shoots out and lassos the spider, dropping it into the Doctor’s hand. 

The Doctor looks over at her. “Hey, nice liana.”

Jabe smirks, her tone is flirty. “Thank you. We're not supposed to show them in public.” 

Ugh. 

“Don't worry, I won't tell anybody.” He smiles over at Jabe faintly, then directs his attention to the spider in his hand. “Now then, who's been bringing their pets on board?” 

“What does it do?” She asks him. 

“Sabotage.” The Doctor responds. Of course it does. Spiders suck man. 

Above us, the computer informs us. “Earth Death in ten minutes.” 

The Doctor looks up at us. “And the temperature's about to rocket. Come on.” 

He jogs from the room. Jabe and I follow closely behind him. As we run along the corridor starts getting almost smoky? Like something has been burning. 

We round the corner and find the room where the smoke seems to be coming from. You can hear the sizzle as things are still burning. There are little blue men gathered outside of the door, they all look very panicked. 

“Hold on. Get back.” The Doctor calls out as he darts over to the door controls. He pulls out his sonic again. A computerized voice announces. ‘Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising.’

“Is the Steward in there?!” Jabe asks.

“You can smell him.” The Doctor responds. “Hold on, there's another sun filter programmed to descend.” He runs off, presumably going to try and raise the other sun filter. 

Oh god. The Doctor is right. I can smell the burning flesh. I stumble over to a corner, dry heaving.

Jabe comes over to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Come, we need to find out who’s causing this.” 

I nod, straightening myself out and following her. She takes us back to the main room where everyone is. Her attendants come over, Jabe takes a handheld computer from one of them. 

Scanning the metal spider, she waits for the response. “The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of Platform One.” The door swishes behind us, I can feel the Doctor. His anger is starting to grow. 

The piece of stretched flesh opens its mouth and starts to talk. “How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturize me, moisturize me.” There are two people with scrubs on beside her, they proceed to hose her down with some sort of liquid.

“Summon the Steward.” Someone in the crowd demands. 

Jabe looks in their direction. “I'm afraid the Steward is dead.” People gasp. 

“Who killed him?” The same person asks. 

“This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe. He invited us. Talk to the Face. Talk to the Face.” The stretched skin says. 

The Doctor looks up from the spider he had been fiddling with. “Easy way of finding out. Someone bought their little pet on board. Let's send him back to master.” He sets it down on the ground. 

It scuttles over towards the skin and scans her, then it goes over to a group of people in black gowns.

“The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!” The skin cries. 

The Doctor walks forward. “That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it-“ He gets cut off as one of the Adherents tires to hit him. He grabs it by the arm, yanking. The limb comes right off. “A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are, an idea.” 

The Doctor pulls on one of the wires hanging from the arm. All of the Adherents fall to the ground. “Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo. Go home.” He nudges the spider with his foot. It shoots off, running over to the stretched skin. 

The skin has an unimpressed look on her face. “I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed. At arms!” Her attendants raise their spray guns. 

I scoff. “What are you going to do, moisturize us?”

“With acid. Oh, you're too late, anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe.” The guests all look around at each other. “Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just a pretty face.”

“Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?” The Doctor asks her in disbelief. 

The skin sighs. “I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous.” 

The Doctor rolls his eyes. I can feel his contempt. “Five billion years and it still comes down to money.”

“Do you think it's cheap, looking like this?” The skin narrows its eyes. “Flatness costs a fortune. I am the last human, Doctor. Me. Not that freaky little kid of yours.”

“Arrest her, the infidel” One of the guests says. 

“Oh, shut it, pixie. I've still got my final option.” She has a self satisfied smirk on her face. 

The computer, one of the constants of the day, calls out from above. “Earth Death in three minutes.”

“And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go?” She pauses as in contemplation. “Burn, baby, burn.”

“Then you'll burn with us.” Jabe tells her. 

“Oh, I'm so sorry.” The skin says, not sounding sorry at all. “I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders, activate.” There are a series of explosions that rock the platform. “Forcefields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me.”

“Safety systems failing.” The voice from above informs us. 

“Bye, bye, darlings.” The skin practically sings, before her attendants and her disappear in a flash of light. 

The computer chimes again. “Heat levels rising.” 

“Reset the computer.” A guest demands. 

Jabe shakes her head. “Only the Steward would know how.” 

“No. We can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch” He yanks on my arm. “Mabel, come on. You lot, just chill.”

“Heat rising.” The computer repeats as we run back towards the engine room. 

Our arrival is heralded by a wave of heat. The fans are going full force now. The blades moving far to fast for anyone to go through. 

The computer calls out. “Heat levels critical.” 

“Oh.” The Doctor sighs. “And guess where the switch is.”

The computer continues to chime. “Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising.”

The Doctor runs over to a lever on the wall. He pulls it down, and the fans start to slow down. Releasing it, he goes to walk through, but the fans start spinning again. 

I reach over, pushing it down. “Go!” I yell at him. 

“External temperature five thousand degrees.” The computer chimes. 

The Doctor looks pained. “You can't. The heat's going to vent through this place.”

“Okay.” I nod. “Stop wasting time!”

The computer chimes in my ear. “Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising. Earth Death in two minutes. Earth Death in two minutes.”

The Doctor sends me a sharp look before turning and pausing in front of the first fan. Two seconds pass, then he runs through. 

The lever is beginning to heat up. My hands start to burn. Cursing, I lean my body on the lever while reaching up with one hand to pull my scarf free from my neck. I wrap it around the lever to use as a barrier. 

I look up to find that the Doctor has cleared the second fan. Good job, one more to go. Blisters start to form on my hands from the heat. I bite the inside of my cheek harshly, determined to not distract the Doctor in any way. 

The Computer chimes. “Planet explodes in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five” 

The Doctor takes a deep breath, then walks through the last fan. 

Lunging for the reset breaker, he manages to get to it just in time. “Raise shields!” He yells. 

The heat immediately starts to recede. The fans start to slow down to almost nothing. I pull my hands from the lever, hissing as pieces of my skin get left behind.

I shakily exhale. My hands are blackened and cracked. Blood is sluggishly leaking from where pieces of skin have been torn off. 

The sound of running feet breaks me out of my examination. The Doctor skids to a stop in front of me. “I ruined my scarf.” I say to him plaintively. 

He doesn’t appreciate my humor. Frowning, he gently cups my hands from underneath. I cringe in pain at the touch. 

The Doctor grabs the tattered remains of my scarf from the lever. Ripping it in two, he wraps my hands the best he can. 

A strangled scream leaves my lips as he tightens the fabric down on my left, then my right hand. Involuntary tears slip from the corners of my eyes. “Doctor.” 

He hums, the sound comforting. A hand smoothes down my hair as he presses a kiss to my forehead. “Soon as we get back to the Tardis, I’ll fix you up. Can’t do it right now, there’s something I gotta finish first.” The Doctor tells me.

I sigh. “Yeah. I know sweetheart.” 

Instead of pulling back like I thought he was going to, he leans in so his forehead is pressed against mine. “I know it’s early days yet.” The Doctor murmurs. “You might not know. Pain can be shared over the connection.” 

Like how I helped the Doctor. “I don’t want you to be hurt.” I tell him. 

He makes a frustrated noise. “Pain shared is pain halved.” It’s the same words I said to a different him not even 12 hours ago. 

I can feel this is important to him. Closing my eyes, I reach out mentally, pressing against his borders. He immediately envelopes me with his own presence. My body sags against his in relief. 

“There.” The Doctor says. “Now, to finish this.” 

He places a hand in the small of my back, the physical touch a comfort as we walk back towards the main hall. 

The closer we get, the more agitated I can feel the Doctor becoming. By the time we round the corner he is practically vibrating with it. 

“Rose!” I call out, relieved that she’s okay.

She turns towards us, her face instantly becoming concerned as she see’s how I’m holding my hands. “You all right?”

I smile at her reassuringly. “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” 

The Doctor starts to pace back and forth. Rose looks over to him. “Are ‘you’ okay?” She asks him.

“Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby.” The Doctor walks over to what looks like an ostrich egg. He throws it to the ground and it breaks, revealing a small device. “Idea number three, if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed.” He twists the top of the device and the stretched skin appears back in the room. 

“Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces.” She is in the middle of saying. “Oh.”

“The last human.” There is contempt in the Doctor’s voice. 

The skin immediately starts trying to bullshit him. “So, you passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join, er, the Human Club.” 

He isn’t buying it. “People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them.” 

Cassandra huh, the same Cassandra that was in the hospital on New Earth? 

Cassandra purses her lips. “It depends on your definition of people, and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court, then, Doctor, and watch me smile and cry and flutter-“

The Doctor interrupts. “And creak?”

“And what?” She asks. 

“Creak. You're creaking.” He says to her. 

“What?” Cassandra says, alarmed. “Ah! I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturize me, moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!”

The Doctor just stares at her. “You raised the temperature.” 

She pleads with him. “Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, oh, Doctor. I'm sorry. I'll do anything.” 

I want to do something to help her, but at the same time I feel like she will only go back to doing horrible shit like this again. 

Rose takes a step forward. “Help her.” She tells him. 

The Doctor doesn’t move. “Everything has its time and everything dies.” 

“I'm too young!” Cassandra cries out as her skin splits apart and flies everywhere. 

The Doctors face doesn’t change. He just stares at the remains coldly. It’s at times like these that I remember how alien he is. 

I lean my shoulder against his arm. “Doctor.” I murmur. 

He shifts so his arm goes over my shoulder. “Medbay.” 

I nod, letting him direct me. I’m not entirely sure that I would have been able to walk under my own power. My thoughts are all jumbling together, it was getting hard to think properly. Some part of me realized that I must be going into shock, the other part was just confused. 

Time passed, it must have. The next thing I’m aware of is the sharp ripping pain of the Doctor pulling my scarf from my right hand. 

“Jesus.” I hiss at him. “Next time kick me in the ovaries why don’t ya? Maybe it’ll hurt less.” 

The Doctor’s lips tug up in a smile. “There you are.” His hands reach for my left hand but I pull it back. 

“No.” I tell him. “It’s fine, just leave it that way.” 

He shakes his head in response. “I have to clean them before I can start the healing process.” He reaches for my hand again, and this time I let him. 

The Doctor carefully peels the fabric back, but it’s sticking to some parts of my skin. “Noo, you-“

“Be nice.” He interrupts me, while he finishes ripping the scarf off. I bite back a scream. 

The next hour is a blur of pain. The Doctor had to trim back my dead, blackened skin so he could clean my hands properly. After that, he was able to put a numbing gel with healing properties on my hands. It glowed a pretty green. He finishes the whole thing off by putting thin transparent gloves on overtop everything. 

“The gel will turn clear when it’s finished healing the damage.” The Doctor informs me. 

It pretty much goes over my head though, at this point I’m so exhausted I can hardly see straight. 

“C’mon.” He says to me, fond. The Doctor picks me up like I don’t weigh anything, adjusting me so that my hands are resting on my chest. 

He heads down the corridor, pausing in front of our door. Shifting me around, he holds me with one arm while he opens the door with the other. That’s really hot. The Doctor’s shoulders shake with amusement.

Crossing over to the bed, he gently lays me down. His hands come up and start unbuttoning my shirt, carefully maneuvering my arms out of the holes. He removes the rest of my clothing and dresses me in an oversized t-shirt. 

Above my head three Doctor’s start swirling around. I giggle to myself. Wholly shit, I’m so high right now. 

The Doctor’s head falls to my stomach, laughter coming from deep in his chest. 

Oh, I think I’ve been saying all of this out loud. 

“Oh yes.” The Doctor tells me. “Yes, you have.” The amusement in his voice is palpable. 

Hmp. Fine, I guess I wasn’t going to tell him what I thought of his leather jacket. It wasn’t that attractive anyways. 

The Doctor pulls his leg up. He uses it as a rest for his arm, leaning his head in his palm. His face is soft. “Mmhm. I guess you won’t.”

Shut up. This isn’t fair, I don’t know what I’m saying out loud and what I’m not saying out loud. 

A dust mote floats over the Doctor’s shoulder, distracting me. Dust is cool. The Doctor shifts, gaining my attention again. The Doctor is cool too. Really cool. I liked this face. He was sassy. 

Sassy. Yeah.. My thoughts drifted off and it was a while before I was able to catch them again.


	10. Three doctor are a treat (Dragonfire)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, let me apologize on the delay. I've always tried to stick to my upload schedule of a new chapter every 4 days. Obviously, that didn't happen this time. Real life got in the way. I started a new semester at university and it's already eating up all my free time. So, instead of every four days, I will be doing my best to upload every week instead. 
> 
> Also, this chapter is pretty huge. Measuring in at just over 12,000 words. Hopefully that makes up for the delay?
> 
> There is another sex scene at the end of this chapter. You can skip it if you don't want to read it, but it does have some information to flesh out my version of Gallifreyans so -shrug- 
> 
> There isn't a whole lot of known information about Gallifreyans in general floating around. I'm doing my best to work with the information I can find, smudging the edges where the information is scarce. 
> 
> I did have someone express confusion over a Doctor in a specific chapter. I do try to point out an easy to notice distinguishing characteristic so you have a frame of reference for who she's jumped to, but on the other hand I’m kind of writing them ambiguous as well. This is because Mabel doesn't really care that the Doctor has different faces. It's become so normal for her that she only really notices the wardrobe changes.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> ~RainingCoffee

My eyes slowly opened, I still felt somewhat fuzzy but not as bad as last night. Squinting at the ceiling and trying to ignore my aching hands, I became aware of a weight on my lower body. Looking down, the top of the Doctor’s head comes into view. 

I shifted my arms, lifting them up and studying the glowing green gloves on my hands. I vaguely remember the Doctor saying something about how something would turn clear when it was finished. I guess it wasn’t finished yet. 

I gently brought my hands down on the Doctor’s back. He shifts, I can feel his awareness sharpen. “Sorry.” I whisper. “I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

He hums in response. “Nah, that’s alright.” 

I laugh quietly. “You must have given me the good stuff last night. Everything is still a little floaty.” 

Playfulness blooms in from his side of the connection. “Oh yes, maybe too much.”

“What do you mean?” I squint at him. 

“Your internal dialogue became your outside dialogue.” He tells me. 

I groan. “Oh no. What did I say?”

“Well, apparently the fact I can hold you up with one arm is hot.” The Doctor says. I flush in embarrassment, but he’s not finished. “You think I’m cool and you like this face because I’m sassy.” He looks up at me, a smirk on his lips. “You also hate fish fingers and custard, celery is not supposed to go on a piece of clothing, Donna Noble is the queen of the world, and you think Rose should wear less eyeliner.”

I’m surprised that my face hasn’t caught on fire, it certainly feels hot enough to do so. The Doctor just laughs at me. I try to throw my arm over my face to hide it, but he catches it, stopping it from moving to far. 

“I’m very glad you’re here Mabel.” He tells me, laughter fading into something more solemn. “Thank you.” 

Confused, I tilt my head. “Of course I’d be here. I don’t know where else I’d be.” 

He braces himself on his arms, leaning back into a sitting position. “Oh, you’ll understand one day.” 

I go to respond, but the familiar feeling of heat building stops me. The Doctor’s face falls as I start to glow. I reach over, cupping his cheek. “It’s okay hun. Remember what I told you. You’ll be seeing a lot of me in the future.” 

His slowly growing smile is the last thing I see before my whole world goes white. 

~

I reappear, my body crashing down onto what feels like rocks. Cursing, I curl into a ball around my stinging hands. 

“Mabel!” I hear the Doctor yell. It sounds like I jumped to the one who wears a bow tie. 

“Oww.” I open one eye to confirm what I heard. Yep. His gangly limbs are the same as ever. 

The Doctor reaches my side, his hands flail over my body like he doesn’t know what he can touch. 

I reach out, ignoring the pain in my hand, and grab onto his bow tie. Using that as leverage, I pull his face down until it’s right in front of mine. “You!” 

“Me?” The Doctor squeaks. “Mabel, please, you’re hurt.” 

“I’m so furious with you!” I yell right into his face. “Don’t you ever do that to me again.” 

He looks bewildered, his body is contorted at a strange angle by my hold on him. “What are you talking about?”

“You made me jump. You told me you loved me and then you sent me away! Do you have any idea of how that made me feel?” My eyes fill with tears, but I bite my cheek to make them recede. My voice falls into a harsh whisper. “I’ve told you this before. But I’ll repeat it as many times as I need to. Maybe one day it will get through your thick skull. I choose to stand beside you. That is ‘my’ choice. It isn’t yours. You have no right to send me away.” I release his bow tie, my hand simply refuses to grip it anymore. “You idiotic, bumbling fool.”

The Doctor’s face softens, turning fond. “Oh Mabel. Braveheart Mabel. I’m sorry I worried you.” He clasps my hands in his, pressing a kiss to them. I frown down at his head. 

He keeps his head bowed over our hands. The glow of regeneration starts emanating from them, my hands tingling in response. He releases my hands and I see that the gloves have gone clear. “There. Good as new.” The Doctor tells me, voice soft. 

Momentarily distracted from my anger, I flex my fingers amazed that there’s no pain. “Doctor, how did you do that?”

The Doctor sits back on his heels. “This body is still fresh. Haven’t had it for long now.” He shrugs. “I have excess energy to burn.” 

Somebody clears a throat behind us. The Doctor jumps and moves to get to his feet, but I’ve finally realized what kind of position I’m in. My hands fly to his hips. “Don’t move.” I whisper. 

“What?” The Doctor asks, confused. “Why?”

I look down at myself, then back up at him. The only thing I had on was the oversized shirt the Doctor had dressed me in the previous night. When I grabbed his bowtie I pulled him between my legs, and the shirt got pushed up. If he were to move, then anybody behind him would get a front row show to my crotch. And I wasn’t wearing any underwear.

“Oh.” A smile tugs at the Doctor’s lips. He scoots back a bit, keeping his body between mine and the other people while helping me stand up. 

Once standing, I turn my attention to the two people standing behind the Doctor. One is a woman with amazing curls who’s giving us an indulgent look. The other is a very familiar looking Amelia Pond.

It’s been over a year since the last time I’ve seen her. “Amelia!” I exclaim, pleased. 

Her less than pleased face becomes even more displeased. “Don’t call me that.” She snaps. 

I put my hands up, taken aback. “Okay Amy.” I send a wave of confusion to the Doctor. He responds with exasperation. 

The woman with the curls walks forward and folds me into a hug. “Oh, Mabel. It’s very good to see you. I was hoping you’d pop in.”

Bewildered, I pat her on the back. “Hello.” 

She pulls back, looking confused. “What’s the mater with you?” 

The Doctor steps up behind me. “River.” He hesitates. “This is her first time meeting you.”

The woman’s eyes close for a second, but not before I see the look of pain in them. By the time she reopens them, there is nothing but a kind smile on her face. “The name is River Song.” She introduces herself. “We are going to be great friends in your future.” 

I smile back, still a little uncertain. 

Amy breaks the tension. “So, what caused it to crash?” She asks, nodding towards the giant spaceship on top of the cliff we were beside. 

I honestly have no idea how I had managed to miss it in the first place, it was on fire for god’s sake. 

River turns to look at it. “Not me.”

The Doctor shakes his head. “Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it. According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase shift. No survivors.”

“A phase shift would have to be sabotage. I did warn them.” River says, pursing her lips. 

“About what?” The Doctor asks her. 

River ignores him. “Well, at least the building was empty. Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries.” 

Amy sidles up to the Doctor. “Aren't you going to introduce us?” 

He smiles wryly while he gestures to River. “Amy Pond, Professor River Song.”

River gasps., turning to look at him. “I'm going to be a Professor some day, am I? How exciting.” Looking back at the temple, she presses a button on the device she has in her hands. “Spoilers!” 

She’s sassy. I look over at the Doctor with a smirk. He sends me a grimace. Oh, I think River and I am going to get along just fine. 

Amy lowers her voice. “Yeah, but who is she and how did she do that? She just left you a note in a museum.” The Doctor brings a finger up to Amy’s lips, trying to shush her.

“Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum. The Home Box of a category four starliner and sooner or later, him.” River informs Amy, turning back to look at her. “It's how he keeps score.”

Laughing, Amy walks up to where River is. “I know.”

River shares a smirk with her. “It's hilarious, isn't it?”

The Doctor paces away, then back. He frowns, sending a look of concern at River. “I'm nobody's taxi service.” He tells River, pointing a finger in her face. “I'm not going to be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a space ship.”

“And you are so wrong.” River laughs before turning serious. “There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die.” The Doctor stills. River looks at me. “Now he's listening.”

River’s communicator beeps and she brings it up to her ear. “You lot in orbit yet?” She says into it, walking away for some privacy. “Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal.” She raises her voice. “Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon.”

The Doctor pulls his sonic out, using it on her device from afar. 

Amy waggles her shoulders as she comes over. “Ooo, Doctor, you sonicked her.” 

Disgust crosses the Doctor’s face, and comes through over the connection. “Pond, please don’t. Just, no.”

Conversation apparently over, River makes her way back over to us. She pulls out a Tardis blue book. “We have a minute. Shall we? Where are we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?” 

Oh, I get it. She has a diary just like me. I perk up. “Wait, does this mean you jump around like I do?” I ask her. 

River shakes her head at me. “No Mabel, I don’t. I’m sorry. We just never seem to meet in the right order.” 

I deflate a bit. 

Amy looks confused. “What's the book?”

“Stay away from it.” The Doctor tells her. 

“What is it though?” She asks him. 

“Her diary.” He states matter of factly. 

“Our diary.” River corrects. 

He frowns. “Her past, mine and Mabel’s future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order.”

In the distance four dust tornadoes pick up. Men appear through the tornadoes. They are dressed in camo and are armed with guns.

One steps forward. “You promised me an army, Doctor Song.”

“No, I promised you the equivalent of an army. This is the Doctor, and that’s Mabel Falkov.

The man’s face goes slack for a second, before he recovers, holding out a hand to introduce himself. The Doctor shakes it, then I do. “Father Octavian, Sirs. Bishop, second class. Twenty clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation.” He must notice the blank looks on our faces. “Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?”

She looks over at us. “What do you two know of the Weeping Angels?”

The Doctor’s head immediately snaps to her. 

“Ah.” River says. “You’ve heard of them then.” 

“Not to interrupt or anything.” I say, shifting uncomfortably. My hand tries to pull the hem of the shirt down more. It barely manages to cover past my butt and it’s windy. “I’m just going to pop into that box over there for a moment and put some clothes on.”

Father Octavian nods, turning to speak with River. I turn and head to the Tardis, picking my way carefully over the rocks. I’m only one slip away from flashing everyone. 

I make my way to our shared room. The first thing I do is go to the bathroom, heading over to the sink and removing the gloves, then rinsing the goo off. 

After I finish that, I finally get a chance to look at myself in the mirror for the first time that day. My face is washed out, hair going every which way. The shirt really is large on me, the neck is so big that it falls over one shoulder. I make a face at myself. Ugh. 

“Beautiful.” The Doctor says from the doorway. 

I look over and wrinkle my nose at him. “Meh.” 

He laughs, sauntering over and placing his arms on the sink around me. We are both looking at the mirror from this position. I lean back into his frame. “See.” He tells me, his head dropping down to rest on the top of mine. “Beautiful.”

“I desperately need a shower.” I say in a deadpan. “And my glasses.”

The Doctor tilts his head to the side. “Nope, not seeing it.”

I roll my eyes, elbowing him gently. “You’re such a sap.” 

He grins, his whole face lighting up. “Yep, that’s me. I’m a professional sap.” 

“Alright. That’s enough.” I tell him, shooing him out of the room. “Time for me to take a shower, and for you to go do something else.”

His smile persists, even as I shove him out of the room. That man. He can be quite flattering sometimes. I go back over to the mirror and frown at my reflection. Where before I had looked washed out, now I looked alive. My eyes were lit up and my cheeks were flushed from his words. 

Ugh, when had I become so sappy myself? 

~

One shower, a new pair of clothes, and a frantic search for my glasses later, I was ready to face the world. 

As soon as I step into the corridor though, I know I’m not in the same Tardis. I look down at my hands in suspicion. Did I jump? I hadn’t even felt it this time. 

The Tardis tugs me, directing me towards the console room. I pout up at her, but follow her directions. 

“Where is it?” I hear an unfamiliar woman ask.

“Ice world.” The Doctor, or the person I’m assuming is the Doctor, responds. “A space trading colony on the dark side of the planet Svartos. Space travelers stop there for supplies. I've been picking up a faint tracking signal for some time. I think there's something interesting going on there, Mel.”

I round the corner, taking in the white console room and the people in it. Yes, I do believe that he was the Doctor. I have a faint recollection of meeting him once before, that question mark vest is unmistakable.

The Doctor notices me first. “Mabel!” 

I walk over, leaning up and pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Hello sweetheart.” 

He beams, leaning in for another kiss. 

I pull back, not wanting to give his companion a show. The Doctor seems confused. I feel his attention sharpen. He leans back and contemplates me. 

“Oh my, look at you.” His smile turns giddy. “You’re so young Mabel.” 

My face falls into unimpressed lines. I’m really getting sick and tired of him calling me young in the way someone would call out an unfinished book. “I can go hide somewhere till an older version of me pops in, if that would be more to your liking?” 

The Doctor rolls his eyes. “No, No. Don’t pout dearrr, you know I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Doctor?” His companion speaks up. “This is Mabel?” 

“Yep, that’s me.” I wave at her, pushing my annoyance away. Holding out a hand for her to shake, I continue. “This will be the first time meeting you from my perspective.”

She smiles at me, shaking my hand. I can tell she’s a little thrown off by my statement but she’s rolling with it like a champ. “I’m Mel.” She tells me. 

I look between the Doctor and Mel. “So what are we doing today?” 

“Ah.” The Doctor jumps in. “Tracking signal on Ice World. We’re going to check it out.” He presses some buttons and the Tardis makes the sound of materialization. 

I exchange a look of excitement with Mel. This is my first trip with this Doctor and I’m really looking forward to it. 

Mel heads towards the door. The Doctor grabs his hat and then puts his hand on the small of my back to direct me out. 

“A freezer center? How boring.” Mel complains. 

“Oh, trust not appearances, Mel.” The Doctor tells her. “You never know what might be lurking in the freezer chests. Think gothic.”

The Doctor ends up leading us up to a little café. “Three of your best strawberry milkshakes, if you please.” He tells a man behind the counter. 

We go over to a table and sit down to wait for our drinks. 

“The mistake’s in your wallet, not my arithmetic.” A very familiar voice says from behind me. 

“Do you take Asteroid Express?” A man responds. 

“Glitz!” The Doctor exclaims. Mel echoing him. 

I turn around to see Ace taking the man called Glitz’s card and heading over to the counter. 

Glitz looks around in a suspicious manner. “What? No, never heard of him.”

Mel goes over to his table and sits next to him. “It's us, Mel, Mabel and the Doctor. You haven't forgotten us, have you, Glitz?”

“Shush. Keep your voice down. No, of course I haven't forgotten you.” He points at Mel and then turns to the Doctor. “Mel, and the Doc.” He pauses. “Here, you're not the Doctor.” Glitz looks over at me. “And you’re not Mabel.”

The Doctors face falls into a sulky expression. “We’ve regenerated. The difference is purely perceptual.”

Glitz looks unconvinced for a second, but then his face turns hopeful. “Here, you couldn't do us a favour, could you? You see, I'm in a spot of bother.”

Ace rounds the table, bringing us our drinks. “Thank you.” I say, smiling up at her. 

“What's this, Glitz? Not another one of your dodgy deals backfired?” The Doctor laughs. 

“No, no, nothing like that, straight up. Fact is, I'm on a mission of highly philanthropic nature.” He tells us. 

Mel leans in. “What’s that?”

“It means it's beneficial to mankind.” Glitz explains. 

I roll my eyes, leaning back in my chair. “We know what philanthropic means. She was asking what mission you were talking about.”

Glitz leans forward. “I have been entrusted to deliver certain secret documents which nefarious unnamed parties would stop at nothing to grasp within their own grubby digits.”

“You mean-“ The Doctor starts

“-They’d kill you.” Mel finishes. 

Three people walk up behind Glitz. One steps forward, a woman, and taps him of the shoulder. “Sabalom Glitz, we've been looking for you.”

Mel immediately stands up, her fists clenched. “Leave him alone. If you kill him, you kill us too.”

The Doctor throws out a hand to calm Mel down. “Er, steady on there, Mel.”

“What are you talking about?” The woman asks her. 

“Oh, he's told us everything, about how you tried to stop him delivering secret documents-“ Mel starts, but gets interrupted. 

“Shush.” Glitz hushes her. 

The woman looks over at Glitz. “Becoming quite a story-teller, aren't we, Glitz? I'm afraid you also seem to be a victim of Mister Glitz's cavalier attitude toward facts.”

“Glitz.” The Doctor scolds. 

I’m not even surprised. Glitz has rubbed me the wrong way since I first saw him. 

“I'm not interested in any secret documents which Mister Glitz may or may not possess. I am more concerned with the hundred crowns he took from my employer, Mister Kane, under false pretenses.” The woman tells us.

Glitz raises a hand. “That was highest quality merchandise.” 

The woman raises an eyebrow. “A space freighter full of deep frozen fruit which turned out to be rotten.”

“Oh, a bit on the ripe side, maybe.” Glitz tries. 

“They were putrefying, Glitz.” She responds. 

Glitz laughs uncomfortably. “A little past their prime, perhaps.” 

The woman obviously isn’t buying it. “And Mister Kane does not run Ice world to subsidize crooks like yourself. The hundred crowns, please.”

Perhaps the Doctor is tuning in to how annoyed I am getting, or if he is getting annoyed himself, but he chimes in. “I think you'd better pay back the money, Glitz.”

“I can't.” He mutters. 

I cross my arms. “And why not?” 

Glitz looks shifty. “Well, you see, there was this game of cards. I got well damaged.”

“What about the hundred and two crowns you sold your crew for?” This woman isn’t giving him an inch, good for her. 

“Sold your crew?” Mel exclaims. 

“Well, the mutinous rabble. They tried to take command of my spacecraft. I relieved myself of them for seventeen crowns a piece. Rather more than they were worth, I think.” Glitz laughs. 

The Doctor turns back to Glitz, picking up the book he had started to read earlier. 

The woman looks frustrated. “The money.”

Glitz shrugs. “Gone the way of all organic matter, I'm afraid. Down the tube.”

“In that case, we're confiscating your spacecraft.” She tells him. 

“The Nosferatu? You can't do that.” Glitz exclaims.

The woman raises an eyebrow at him. “You have seventy two hours to find one hundred crowns or you lose your spacecraft.”

Glitz looks upset. “But it's my livelihood.”

The woman doesn’t look like she cares. She leaves, taking the two other workers with her. 

Glitz looks at the Doctors back. “Doctor, you've got to help me.”

“You've only got yourself to blame.” The Doctor informs him. 

“Mabel, what about you. Can you help me?” Glitz asks me. 

I smile, more a barring of teeth than any show of happiness. “And why should I do that? All I’ve heard of you is that you sell your own crew for profit and try to con people with dodgy deals.” 

His mouth flaps open, but nothing comes out. I stand up, pushing my chair back in politely, then walk back over to my seat next to the Doctor. 

“Temper, temper.” The Doctor murmurs out of the corner of his mouth. I doubt anyone else could hear it. 

My shoulders twitch in response. 

He grabs my strawberry milkshake and places it in front of me. I take a deep breath, letting out all the tension I’ve been holding. Scooting my chair closer to the Doctor, I lean my shoulder against his. “Sorry sweetheart. I don’t know why I’m so grumpy today.”

The Doctor looks up from his book, smiling at me. He grabs my hand from the table and presses a kiss to my knuckles, chuckling at my blush in response. 

Mel comes back over from talking with Glitz, huffing. 

We all sip at our milkshakes in silence. Ace stomps away from a guy at the bar. “Hope the dragon gets you in the night.”

“Dragon?” Mel asks. “What dragon?”

Ace sits down at our table. “It's just a legend. There's supposed to be a terrifying dragon living in the ice passages underneath Ice world.”

Ah, of course. Explains why he would want to come here in the first place. 

Mel looks over at the Doctor. “I knew there must be a reason why you brought us here.” He smiles, mischievous. “You want to see the dragon, don't you.”

“Oh really, Mel, it's fascinating.” The Doctor tells her. “Travelers claim to have seen it throughout the centuries but there's never been any proof.”

Mel nods. “Like the Lock Ness monster.”

“Lochh.” The Doctor emphasizes. 

“Och!” Mel rolls her eyes. 

Ace leans in across the table. “You're going to go looking for the dragon?”

The Doctor leans in towards her. “Absolutely.”

“Oh, cool. Can I come too?” She asks him. 

The Doctor considers Ace. “Won't you get into trouble with your boss?”

Ace shakes her head. “Oh, I'm fed up with being a waitress. Oh, go on, Professor, let me come too.”

“Well, I don't see why not.” He tells her. 

“Ace!” She exclaims. “And can we search for the treasure, too?”

A spike of interest from the Doctor spills over. “Treasure?”

“Yeah. The dragon's supposed to be guarding a fabulous treasure.” Ace explains. 

Glitz, who’s been eavesdropping on us, laughs. “Treasure? What treasure? You don't want to go believing in myths and legends, Doctor.”

Mel snaps her head over in Glitz’s direction. “Who asked you? We're not talking to you.”

“No, if you want my opinion, all this talk of treasure and dragons, it's all a load of old spacedust.” Glitz ignores her. 

I raise an eyebrow, my bad mood returning like it had never gone in the first place. “Nobody asked for your opinion.”

Ace narrows her eyes at him. She gets up and walks over to him, grabbing a piece of folded paper from his hands. “Well, if you're so convinced it's all rubbish, why have you been burning holes in this treasure map for the last two days?”

“Map?” The Doctor perks up. 

“Yeah.” Ace confirms, placing in front of the Doctor.

The Doctor unfolds the paper, spreading it out so everyone can see it. “Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.”

Mel scoffs. “Looks like something from a jumble sale to me.”

“Oi!” Glitz says, annoyed. “There's nothing snide about this document.”

Ace rolls her eyes. “You don't want to believe nothing you get from him, Professor. He probably bought two hundred of them in a job lot.”

“Do you mind? This is the real McCoy, this is. It comes from an unimpeachable source.” Glitz insists.

“What's that, then?” Ace asks, leaning in and smiling at him skeptically. 

“That means it is beyond r-“ Glitz starts, but I cut him off by placing my hand over his mouth. 

“She knows what unimpeachable means you sanctimonious airbag.” His mouth opens, and I raise an eyebrow at him. “If that tongue touches my hand, you’ll have bigger things to worry about than your ship being confiscated.”

Glitz closes his mouth. “Thank you.” I say, removing my hand from his mouth. “Now what makes you so certain that this map is real?”

“Because I acquired it from a man of character and distinction.” He insists. 

“How?” Mel asks him. 

Glitz looks around, shifting uncomfortably. “I won it in er, a chess match.”

“You won it playing cards.” Mel slumps in disappointment. “Doctor, it's a waste of time. He won it in a card game.”

“An honest transaction.” Glitz says, pointing to the map. “The man was desperate not to lose this map, so I know it's something very, very tasty.”

“It shows the lower levels of Ice world.” The Doctor tells us. I can feel his interest humming under my skin. 

“No one goes down there anymore.” Ace informs us. “Too dangerous.”

“The Ice Garden.” The Doctor points on the map. “The Singing Trees.”

“But like the girl says, Doctor, it's too dangerous.” Glitz tells him. 

“Where's your sense of adventure, Glitz?” The Doctor asks him.

Glitz looks at the Doctor in disbelief. “What, do you want to go here, the Lake of Oblivion?” He says, gesturing at the map. 

The Doctor perks up. “Where?” 

“Depth of Eternal Darkness? Dragonfire? I should stop at home, if I were you Doctor.” Glitz finishes, taking a drink from his glass. 

I smile internally, Oh Glitz. You were trying to get the Doctor to back off, but you’ve only made him more interested. 

Ace scans the map. “Cor, this sounds brill.”

“My sentiments precisely.” The Doctor says, scanning her with keen eyes. “What's your name, incidentally?”

Ace smiles. “Everyone calls me Ace.”

“Oh, how do you do.” The Doctor says, tipping his hat. “I'm the Doctor, this is Mabel and this is our friend Mel.” He tells her, gesturing to each person in turn. 

“Hello Ace.” I smile at her. The last time I hadn’t got a chance to really talk with her or anything, so I’m interested to get to know her. 

“And we're really going to go looking for dragons?” Ace asks, hopeful. 

Glitz shakes his head. “Too risky if you ask me.”

“Nonsense, Glitz.” The Doctor says, standing up and folding the map up so he can take it. “Time for a quick adventure then back for tea.”

“Ace!” Ace exclaims. 

“That's the spirit, Doctor.” Mel tells him, smiling. 

“Hang about!” Glitz protests, standing up as well. “You can't go without me, that's my map.” He says, taking it back from the Doctor. “And I don't want these girls coming along, either.”

Ace’s face becomes angry. “What?” 

“It's too dangerous.” Glitz explains. 

Ace looks over at the Doctor. “Professor!” 

Glitz continues. “And since it's my map.” 

Ace cuts him off. “Right, you male chauvinist bilge bag, just you wait.” She tells him, stalking off. 

The Doctor watches her go. He makes a face of disappointment. “And I was so looking forward to meeting a dragon.” 

Mel sighs. “Oh, it's all right, Doctor, you go on ahead. I'll wait here. And if Glitz burns his fingers in the dragon's fire, then it serves him right.”

“It's just you and me, then, Doctor.” Glitz says to the Doctor. 

“Hold on.” I chime. “I’m coming with you two.”

Glitz frown at me. “No you aren’t. I said no girls.” 

I raise an eyebrow at him. The Doctor grabs my arm and pulls me off to the side. “Perhaps you should stay here.” He states. 

“What?” I ask him in disbelief. Turning my awareness to his side of the connection, I can tell he is serious. 

“Glitz won’t let me have the map if you come along.” The Doctor continues. “You can stay up here and watch over Mel.” 

I blink at him. Wow, he’s actually serious. I make sure nothing I’m feeling is being reflected in the connection. 

“Yeah.” I tell him, voice flat. Pulling back from him, I continue. “Go ahead.” 

The Doctor winces. Lowering his voice, he leans in. “I’ll make it up to you later.” 

I raise an eyebrow. “Mmhm. It better be good.” 

He smirks at me, and I get a burst of his intention from the connection. 

Rolling my eyes, I shoo him off. As soon as he leaves my line of sight, my pleasant smile drops into a scowl. I check the barrier I put up around my side of the connection. He should only be able to feel the loop of emotions I’ve put up as a front.

I head over to Mel. “I’m going to follow them. Want to come along?” 

“No. I’ll stay here.” She decides. 

I shrug. Whatever floats her boat. I wait another thirty seconds, then head out the door that the Doctor and Glitz walked out of earlier. I’m not entirely sure which way they went, but I bet if I wander, I’ll run into them sooner or later. 

So I wander. No one stops me, which is surprising. But the real trouble starts when I find the entrance to the lower levels. There is no one there. Which is strange. I would imagine that if there really was something dangerous in the lower levels you would have someone watching the entrance to it at all times. 

It feels like a trap, but I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. So, I hurry over and sidle through the doors before anyone can show up to stop me. 

There is no way to tell which way the two of them went. But there is something. Something at the edge of my consciousness pulling me in a particular direction. It’s not the Doctor. It’s different from his particular brand of mental energy, or whatever you would call it. 

I hesitate, but the presence doesn’t feel hostile. Only lonely. 

Ugh, if this goes bad the Doctor will so mad. But you know what? He had purposely left me out earlier. The Doctor is smart, I know he had that map memorized the second he saw it. The Doctor hadn’t needed Glitz and his map to find the dragon. He had just wanted me to stay up on the upper levels so he could go check it out himself. So fuck it. 

I follow the path the presence tugs me along. It takes me past guards, through security ducts, and in through a bulkhead door. Then I get my first look at what brought me here in the first place. It’s somewhat humanoid in body shape from the waist down. Though it is covered in what looks to be a hard shell casing. Its head looks like the heads of the aliens in the movie ‘Independence Day’. 

“Hello there.” I say to it. “Are you the dragon then?”

Awareness blooms. Not words but a sharing of concepts. Duty. Loneliness. Exhaustion. Tears rise in my eyes, and I head over to the dragon, placing a hand on it’s shoulder and sharing my own emotions in return. 

The Dragon trills. There is a sense of gratefulness. It starts to head in a direction, pausing and looking back at me. I think it wants me to follow it. 

The dragon walks out of the room we are in, heading down a corridor. The more we move in that direction, the more the ever present hum of the Doctor gets louder. 

Soon I can even make out words. “-pt in cases of overwhelming hatred or anger.” The Doctor is lecturing.

“I remember how you always had the best of our pickings.” An unfamiliar voice says. 

“I don’t recall.” Glitz chimes in uncomfortably.

The same voice from before continues. “I remember. I remember how you sold our entire crew to Kane to be frozen as mercenaries.” 

We round the corner and take in the scene. In front of us is Glitz, the Doctor, Mel, and Ace, and there is a man advancing on them. 

Glitz shakes his head, backing away. “Oh now, come on, old son, don't go jumping to conclusions.”

“I thought he was a friend of yours.” Ace accuses. 

“More of an acquaintance, actually.” Glitz admits. 

The Man raises a gun, and the dragon fires off a laser, hitting the man. Mel shrieks in fear. Everyone turns around to see where the laser came from. 

“Mabel!” The Doctor exclaims. I was right, he’s not very happy. 

“Yes, that’s my name.” I raise an eyebrow. Taking a step forward, I gesture back at the dragon. “And this is the dragon that everyone has been talking about.”

Mel steps out from behind the Doctor. “It’s friendly.”

The dragon gestures for us to follow it, then walks towards a doorway with ice flowers on it. I follow, I want to see where it’s taking us.

“It wants us to go with it, Professor.” Ace says. 

“Yes.” The Doctor’s less than pleased voice comes from behind me. “Well, let's see what our new friend wants to show us, shall we?”

The dragon leads us to a beautiful room. Crystal shelfs come up from the floor and what looks to be mineral deposits on the ceiling like icicles. There is a faint humming resonating around the room. 

I pause in awe. Setting aside my frustration, I take down the loop I set up earlier and share the feeling with the Doctor. 

The Doctor sighs, there is a low level of frustration coming from his side of the connection, but the second I take down the loop it disappears. He steps forward, linking our hands and smiling at me. 

“This is beautiful Doctor.” Mel gasps. 

Ace looks around. “Here, I can hear singing. Where's it coming from, Professor?”

The Doctor points to the dragon. “I think he wants us to watch.”

The dragon fires off a laser beam at a crystal. A hologram of a woman appears. 

I can feel the light bulb clicking on in the Doctors head. “Ah, so that's what this is all about, a polydimensional scanning imager. And I bet the creature's using itself as the energy source.”

The hologram opens its mouth and begins to talk. “Planetary archives, criminal history segment ninety three twelve oh three. Two of the most vicious examples of the criminal mentality have been the leaders of the notorious Kane-Xana gang. Until its demise, this gang carried out systematic violence and extortion unequalled in its brutality.” The hologram flickers, becoming a man. Probably the person she is talking about. “In view of the sheer evil of his crimes, Kane is to be exiled from the planet Proamon and never allowed to return home.” The picture of Kane reverts back to the woman. “He will be banished to the barren planet of Svartos, which has a permanently frozen dark side on which he can survive.”

There is a pause, the woman gathers herself. “Kane's partner, the woman Xana.” Here the hologram flickers to a picture of another woman, probably Xana herself. “killed herself during the final siege of the gang's headquarters to avoid being arrested and tried for her crimes.” The hologram fades away. 

“Fascinating.” The Doctor murmurs. 

Mel frowns. “Well, that explains about Kane, but where does the creature come from?”

“And what about the fabulous treasure? Is this it?” Glitz gestures to the room. 

The Doctor shakes his head. “Oh, no, no. We might be deep beneath Ice world, but Kane could find his way here easily enough. No, the treasure's got to be somewhere else, somewhere beyond Kane's reach. What does he fear most?”

Ace looks over at the Doctor. “Heat. It'll kill him.”

“Precisely.” The Doctor tells her, pleased. “And what better way of protecting the real treasure than to leave a fire-breathing dragon to guard it? What better protection than if the dragon is the treasure.”

“The creature is the treasure?” Mel asks.

The Doctor walks up to the dragon. “Am I right? Are you the one that everyone's looking for, treasure?”

“Yes.” I say, tears welling up in my eyes again. The remembered sensation of the dragons loneliness is heartbreaking in its intensity. “You’re right.”

The top of the dragon’s head splits open into three sections. A crystal rises up, sparking electricity. 

“It must be worth a fortune.” Glitz sounds as though he’s just won the lottery.

That’s it. I whirl around, lunging for Glitz, but the Doctor catches me around the waist before I can. 

“Hang about!” Glitz cries. “Control your wife Doctor!” 

I make a renewed attempt to get to him. “Another comment like that, and I’m tempted to let her do to you what she wants to do.” The Doctor growls in frustration. “Mabel, stop fighting me.” 

Something in his tone of voice breaks through the fog that’s descended over my thoughts. I let my body go limp in his arms. “Doctor.” I murmur, resting my head against the side of his. 

The Doctor shifts, skin sliding against mine. Awareness peaks, he poses a silent question. I open up, sharing what the dragon shared with me earlier, sharing my frustration. Understanding blooms, a quiet apology is offered. I accept, offering an apology of my own. Not that there is anything for him to apologize for, I’m the one who has been having wild mood swings all day. 

He cups my cheek with his hand, turning my head and kissing me gently. Someone behind us clears their throat, but the Doctor ignores it, finishing the kiss. 

The Doctor releases his hold on me, though his hand trails down and clasps mine tight. He directs his attention to Glitz. “No, you have to look past the gold and the gemstone, Glitz. Look at the fire inside. A source of intense optical energy. Look at it through Kane's eyes. See it as an evil mind would see it.”

“I'm beginning to feel a rather cosy warm sensation in my money pouch.” Glitz responds. 

“Lay one finger on the dragon, bilge bag, and I'll rivet your kneecaps together.” Ace threatens Glitz. 

“We've got to stop Kane from finding the creature.” Mel says. 

The dragon lowers the crystal, closing its head back up. 

“There's something not right. Can't put my finger. Proamon. Proamon.” The Doctor muses. 

Mel takes a step towards us. “Well, the hologram said that Proamon was Kane's home planet.”

He frowns. “Yes, but where have I heard of it before? I mean, where was it? Was it in the past or is it in the future?”

Glitz sighs. “Is any of this important, Doctor?”

“Is a grain of sand important, Glitz?” The Doctor snaps. “I must go back and consult my star charts on the Tardis.”

Ace lights up. “Your spacecraft? Brill!”

“But there isn't time, Doctor.” Mel tells him. 

“No need to perambulate back to Ice world, Doctor.” Glitz chimes in. “These passages have their own star charts. The Ice Garden. I found it, remember?”

“A primitive star chart. Missing constellations, orbital calculations, I imagine.” He scoffs, before contemplating it properly. “Ah yes, I would like to see this.”

“Ice garden?” Ace asks, expectation in her voice. 

The Doctor looks at her. “Er, you stay here. I shan't be long.”

“The Doctor's right. You girls stay here until the Doctor and I get back.” Glitz says, male superiority in his voice. 

Ace scowls at him. “Bilge bag.”

I send a look to the Doctor, one I hope clearly indicates the fact that he better deal with this or I will, and he isn’t going to stop me this time. 

“Now, now, now, now, now.” The Doctor says to Glitz. “You stay here with them. They can look after you so you don't get into any trouble, Glitz.”

“Do what?” Glitz asks skeptically. “Behave, Doctor.”

The Doctor’s Scottish brogue becomes thicker as his frustration mounts. “Don't argue! The three of you are safer together.”

Mel walks over and rests an arm on Glitz shoulder, smiling smugly. 

I tug on the Doctor’s hand, following the dragon out of the room. We follow after it for a bit, before the Doctor drops my hand and pulls out the map. “They always mark north and south on these things, never backwards and forwards.” He mutters. 

The dragon pauses, turning towards us and gesturing towards the map. “Tell you what, you seem to know where you're going. Why don't we just trust to your sense of direction?” I say, nudging the Doctor.

The Doctor holds the map out for the dragon, and the dragon takes it. It surveys the map for second, before taking off down a side corridor. 

After a few minutes, we enter another room. There are no mineral deposits here, but there is a twinkling star chart on the wall. 

The Doctor walks over, fascinated. “Silver bells and cockle shells, and ice gardens all in a row. Extraordinary. This must be a solar system. There's a large red star with small orbiting planets. Constellations, yes, but that one's too high up. They're all slightly out of position. This star chart's no use any more.” He looks over at the dragon. “You’ve been here for a long time. Two thousand years? Longer?”

The dragon doesn’t answer. It stares at us, then on some sort of sign that we can’t see, it moves towards the doorway. 

The Doctor and I exchange a look, heading after it. There are sounds of footsteps in the hall. The dragon starts firing at the people out there. I grab the Doctor’s hand again, and he uses it to pull me behind the dragon and down the hall. 

“Doctor!” I hiss, craning my head to keep the dragon in my view. 

“We can’t help it from here, but I have an idea.” He responds. 

I frown at him, but allow him to continue to pull me down the hall. We keep up the fast pace until we re-enter the room that we left Mel, Ace and Glitz in earlier. 

“Mabel, Doctor!” Mel exclaims. 

Ace frowns. “Well Mabel does start with an M but that wasn’t what I had spied.” She catches site of us. “Professor, Mabel!”

“Where's Glitz?” The Doctor asks them. 

Mel looks away. “He's gone back to his spacecraft.”

He purses his lips in frustration. “We've got to hurry. We might be able to stop Kane and save the creature.” 

We hurry through the lower levels, eventually reaching the catwalks which indicates we are close to the top. 

“Back to the Tardis.” The Doctor states. 

Mel whirls around. “But what about the creature? We've got to save it.”

“The creature will always be under threat from Kane, unless we can convince him that his star charts are hopelessly wrong.” He tells her. “Then we might be able to put an end to all this.”

Ace puts a hand on Mel’s arm. “This isn't another wind up, is it? I mean, I really am going to see your spacecraft, aren't I?”

“Just c’mon!” Mel tells her. 

Several minutes, and many worryingly empty hallways later, we make our way back into the freezer center that we arrived at in the first place. 

“What are we doing here? I thought we were going to see your spacecraft.” Ace says suspiciously. 

Mel looks at her. “This is our spacecraft.”

Ace scoffs. “I'm not stupid.”

“Just come on!” Mel says in exasperation, pulling Ace into the Tardis. 

The Doctor had already entered the doors, he went in as soon as we got here. I, on the other hand, scan the room we had parked in. 

It was weird that no one was here. 

The Doctor rushes out of the doors. “I don’t like this.” I tell him. 

He purses his lips, looking around as well. “Me either.”

Mel and Ace come out of the Tardis, closing the door after them. Ace has that wide eyed look that most people have after seeing the Tardis for the first time. I spare a moment in our mad rush down the corridors to smile at her. 

Ace smiles back, stepping through a bulkhead door. “Here, this is a shortcut to my quarters.”

“Later, Ace. We're in a hurry.” The Doctor chides. 

“No, it's all right. You go on ahead. It's just I don't feel properly dressed without a couple of cans of Nitro. I'll catch you up.” Ace tells us. 

The Doctor looks up at her in frustration. “Come on, Mabel, Mel. We're wasting valuable time.” 

Mel follows the Doctor, but I look back at Ace. “If we miss each other, we’ll come find you okay!”

Ace nods, taking off up the stairs. I hurry to catch up to the Doctor and Mel. It doesn’t take us long to reach the lower levels. The fact that there still isn’t anyone around is making me more and more suspicious. 

Mel rounds a corner, the Doctor and I sliding in after her. She gasps. “The creature, it's dead! They've killed it.”

The dragon is laying on the floor, two ice world workers on the floor next to it. 

“Yes.” The Doctor murmurs, brushing my shoulder with his. “But it had a final surprise for anyone who wanted to try and interfere with it. A huge energy surge when its head was disconnected.”

“What shall we do with it now?” Mel asks us.

I reach the dragon, kneeling down next to it’s prone form. The Doctor kneels down next to me, reaching into the dragon’s head and removing the crystal.

“We'll finish its job for it, and put an end to all this death and destruction.” The Doctor tells her. His voice is full of cold intent. 

“Doctor.” I murmur. “Ace never caught up with us.” 

“I’ve been to her room!” Mel tells us. “I can lead the way.” 

The Doctor frowns, but doesn’t protest. 

We hurry down the corridors once more. “Y’know, I feel like all we’ve been doing is running from one place to another today.”

Mel laughs. “Good exercise.” 

“Meh.” I respond, skeptically. 

Mel goes to the front, leading us to the residential section. There is a door open in the distance, and she runs right into it. “Ace!”

Only Ace isn’t the one in the room. It’s Glitz. 

“Hey, you nicked it!” Glitz laughs, pointing at the crystal in the Doctor’s hand. 

“Where’s Ace?” Mel asks him. 

Glitz shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

“This is not good enough.” The Doctor snaps, frustrated. I lay a hand on his back, sending him a wave of calm. He takes a deep breath, releasing it and letting some of the tension bleed from his body. 

“Well, she wasn't with me.” Glitz tells him, sounding bewildered. 

Mel frowns, looking worried. “Come on, we've got to find her.” She says, grabbing the crystal from the Doctor’s hands then immediately turning and rushing from the room. 

The Doctor and I turn to follow her. Glitz mutters lowly. “You lost her.” The Doctor whirls around, a look of anger on his face. 

Glitz looks away, but the Doctor continues his stare. “Ace, Doctor.” I remind him. He blinks, breaking the tension.

“Yes, you’re right.” The Doctor agrees, turning and heading for the door himself. 

I spare a look at Glitz. “Congratulations. You just lost the best ally in the room.” 

Glitz clenches his jaw. He very clearly wants to say something, but he holds his tongue. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks after all. 

“Mabel!” The Doctor’s impatient voice calls me from the hallway. 

“Coming dear.” I respond, walking out the doorway myself. Glitz’s footsteps follow me. 

There is a noise from the ceiling. The sound of an intercom clicking on. A male voice starts speaking. “Doctor? Glitz?” It starts. “I know you can hear me. I'd like to propose a transaction. My very final transaction before I leave Svartos. The Dragonfire for the girl. Bring me the Dragonfire and you can have the girl. Special closing down sale, you might call it. But hurry, while stocks last.” The man who is most probably Kane, finishes. 

The Doctor taps his umbrella handle against his lips, thinking. 

“I think he means it, Doctor.” Glitz declares. 

“Oh, no doubt.” The Doctor agrees.

Mel shakes her head. “But we can't give him the treasure.” 

“What other choice do we have?” I ask her. “The dragon is dead now, but Ace isn’t. We could still save her.”

Mel slumps, upset. I understand, but at the same time I can’t allow myself to feel the same at the moment. There is still work to be done. 

I look around at everyone. “Does anyone know where Kane might be now?” 

“Most probably, the central control room.” The Doctor responds. 

“I know where it is.” Glitz chimes in, not looking pleased. “I can take us there.”

We follow Glitz, hurrying down the corridors as fast as we dare. All of us are aware that Ace’s life hangs in the balance. 

“Through here.” Glitz gestures to a door. 

The Doctor and I walk through without hesitation, Mel and Glitz following behind us. 

Kane is in the center of the room, holding Ace’s arms behind her. “At last, after three thousand years. Bring it here.” He demands. 

“Three thousand years, eh?” The Doctor starts. “Long enough for an entire civilization to have come and gone.”

Kane looks at the Doctor. “Are you some kind of idiot?”

“You know, for someone who's had the patience to wait around for three thousand years, you seem to be in rather a hurrrry suddenly.” The Doctor tells Kane, trilling the r.

Glitz looks confused. “What's all this three thousand years?”

“Three thousand years since you were exiled here from Proamon, along with the dragon.” I continue for the Doctor. 

Kane looks between the two of us. “Who are you?”

The Doctor tilts his head. “Just travelers.”

“What do you know about Proamon?” Kane asks us, voice defensive. 

I hear Mel take a step forward. “We all know. The creature showed us on the hologram.”

Kane clenches his jaw, shaking his head. “Oh, the archives. I should have destroyed them.”

“No, no, no, you should keep them for souvenir value, along with the Ice Garden.” The Doctor suggests. 

“Why was the creature doing time as well?” Glitz asks.

“The biomechanoid was my jailor.” Kane answers. “Look around you. The controls laying dead, waiting for an energy source. The Dragonfire is that energy source.”

I narrow my eyes at Kane. “And you need that energy source to leave.”

Kane smiles. “They thought they could imprison me on this wretched planet by implanting the power source inside the creature. They shall learn of their folly.”

I bare my teeth in response. “And so they created a living creature to keep you prisoner.”

“There were times when I ached for death.” Kane states. “I considered journeying round from the cold dark side of Svartos to the sun blistered surface on the other side, where I would quickly die. Now, with the Dragonfire, I have the power to return to Proamon and exact my revenge.” He nods at Mel. “You, girl. Bring me the Dragonfire.”

“No. I'm not going to lift a finger to help you.” Mel tells Kane. 

A look of fear crosses Ace’s face. “Melanie?” Ace turns her head to look up at Kane. “Don't listen to her. She doesn't mean it.” Looking back at us, she pleads. “Give him the treasure. I'm sixteen, I'm too young to be freeze dried.” 

Glitz is the first to move. “Come on, Mel. This is no time to be fastidious.”

Mel looks over at the Doctor. “Doctor?”

The Doctor turns back towards Kane. “Look, let me explain.”

Kane releases Ace’s arm, but immediately holds his bare hands towards her face. Ace screams, looking at Kane in fear. I take a step forward, but the Doctor takes a firm hold on the back of my shirt, stopping me. “You're wasting my time. The Dragonfire is mine now. You can either give it to me alive or I shall take it from your dead bodies.” Kane states. 

“Well that kind of logic is inescapable.” The Doctor muses. 

Kane gestures towards the console to the side of us. “Place it in the circuit.”

Mel hesitates. I look over at her, nodding. She frowns, but rushes to do as he says. As soon as Mel places the crystal on the top of the console, Kane starts pressing buttons.

Ace takes the opportunity and rushes over to us, crashing into me and clutching my arm. I smooth a hand down her back. Only sixteen years old and caught up in all of this. My eyes catch the Doctor’s. I can tell he is as pleased about it as I am. 

The crystal starts arching with electricity. A hum starts, building in intensity as the seconds pass. 

“Doctor, what's happening?” Mel asks, looking around in fear.

“It sounds like a starflight drive.” The Doctor states, leaning against the console. He seems unconcerned with the situation now that Ace’s life is no longer in danger. 

“Starflight drive?” Glitz asks skeptically. “It can't be.”

The room shakes, causing everyone to stumble, before it evens out. 

“This is a spacecraft. The whole colony's a spacecraft!” Glitz exclaims. 

“My hour of vengeance-” Kane starts, but the Doctor interrupts him. 

“Vengeance on whom, Kane?” He asks. “You're too late.”

“All your mercenaries are dead.” Mel chimes in.

Kane is unconcerned. “I can soon find more.”

“But where will you find another home planet?” The Doctor asks.

“You're talking in riddles, Doctor. Proamon is my home planet.” Kane frowns.

The Doctor takes a step closer the Kane. “Was your home planet. Take a look at your navigational equipment. It's fully operative now.”

Kane presses a button on the console, studying a monitor “There must be something wrong.”

“Sadly not. Your planet, your people, your entire race were destroyed one thousand years after you were exiled.” The Doctor explains. 

“No. No, it's not possible.” Kane denies. 

Taking his umbrella, the Doctor points at the star chart that Kane had pulled up. “Look at the sun of Proamon. When you left, it was a cold red giant surrounded by freezing planets.”

Kane looks again, shaking his head. “There's nothing there but a neutron star.”

The Doctor forges ahead. There is no sympathy in his expression. “Your sun turned supernova two thousand years ago, and all its planets were engulfed in the explosion. Your people were annihilated, your planet obliterated. You're too late, Kane, for your revenge. You have no home. Time has flowed by.” 

“No. No! It shall not be!” Kane declares. He presses a button on the console then walks over toward a window whose sun shield is raising. 

“Danger, unfiltered sunlight.” An alarm sounds. 

The light is blinding. “What's he doing? It's scorching.” Glitz exclaims. The sound of Kane screaming is all around us. 

The Doctor leaves our side, hurrying to the console and pressing a button. The sun filter rises. The only thing left of Kane is a pile of clothing left of the floor. 

I thought I would feel like justice had been served. The man who ordered the murder of the dragon was dead. But it wasn’t like that at all. The only thing I feel is sadness. Sadness for the dragon, who was created to imprison Kane. The dragon who endured thousands of years of loneliness, who’s only thought was to fulfill its duty. And even sadness for Kane. A man who was so devastated by the fact his planet and people were destroyed that he committed suicide. 

The Doctor places an arm around my shoulders, and I lean into him. 

At some point, the Doctor starts leading me back to the Tardis. “Go.” He shooes me inside. “Run a bath, get comfortable. I’ll finish up here.” 

I want to argue but in all honesty, I don’t feel like dealing with people right now. Leaning up, I kiss the corner of his mouth in thanks. “When you finish everything up, you should come join me.” 

The Doctor’s lips slowly lift into a soft, genuine smile. He leans down, cupping my cheek with his palm and kissing me thoroughly. 

By the time he pulls back, my breathing is rough. His pupils are dilated, all his impressive awareness focused only on me. 

My tongue flicks out to wet my lips and the Doctor’s eyes follow the motion. Feeling pleased at his reaction, I head to the Tardis, turning around at the doorway. “Don’t take too long, okay?”

The Doctor inclines his head. I smile at him, and this time I actually go inside the Tardis. 

“Hey old girl.” I whisper, trailing my fingers along her console. The Tardis hums a greeting, lights dimming and then coming back up. 

Now, it’s time to go take a bath. I head in the direction of our room, the old girl taking an easy on me and only making me walk down three corridors. I enter the room and flop down on the bed. It would be very easy to just go to sleep like this. 

The Tardis flickers her lights at me in protest. “Alright, Alright.” I grumble, getting up reluctantly. 

My clothes get left on the floor, and I pad into the bathroom naked. Everything is fine until I focus on the bathtub. My body breaks out in a cold sweat, and it suddenly becomes hard to breath. 

The Tardis chimes, the bathtub starts filling with water. The sight of the steam coming off the top allows me to unfreeze my body. This isn’t going to be like before. When the Doctor had to drop my body temperature and the water had been so cold it hurt. 

I hesitantly walk closer to the water, kneeling once I get over to it and dipping my hand in. It feels amazing. The tension fades from my back. 

There are several containers around the tub that I hadn’t noticed before. Bubble bath maybe? I open the tops, smelling each one and finally settling on one that smells like fresh air on a rainy day. As soon as the liquid hits the hot water, bubbles start to form. It was bubble bath after all.

I slip into the water, my muscles instantly relaxing. There’s a ledge along the side. I shift around until I’m comfortable, then close my eyes and let myself daydream as I wait for the Doctor. 

Some time later, I hear the door open. A smile plays along my lips, and I look over at him with a smile. 

The Doctor is distracted. “Mel decided to stay behind.” 

I wrinkle my nose. “With Glitz?” He nods. “Well hopefully that works out okay.” 

The Doctor hums, slipping into the water next to me. He reaches out, encouraging me to cuddle up to him. 

“What about Ace?” I ask him.

“She’ll be traveling with us for a bit.” He tells me, hand stroking my shoulder. “But you already knew that.” 

I smile wryly. “Yeah, I was kind of obvious about it wasn’t I?” 

The Doctor taps me on the nose. “Maybe a little.”

Twisting around, I straddle him. His hands come up to my hips to steady me. “I do have a question though.” He hums in response. “About something that Glitz said earlier.” I continue. 

The Doctor freezes, hands clenching at my hips. “Ah, Spoilerrrs?” I laugh, amused at the panic on his face.

He grumbles, pulling me closer and trying to smother his face in my shoulder. My hand comes up to ruffle his curls. “Sorry, Sorry.” I say to him, voice high pitched with humor. “It’s just nice to have it confirmed.”

“What do you mean?” The Doctor asks, lips brushing along my skin. 

“Well a girl wonders, y’know?” My breath hitches as he nips the hickey his future self will one day leave on me. “You send out mixed signals sometimes.” 

The Doctor winces. “Backtracking to much.” 

“Yeah.” I murmur, using my grip on his hair to gently tug his head back. His breathing stutters, eyes dilating in anticipation. 

I bring our mouths together, exploring. Using the connection to find the spots he likes the most, I focus on those areas. This is a whole new Doctor to get used to and I want to make sure that I make it good for him.

He allows me to control the kiss, his enjoyment evident in how his arousal starts to harden under my ass. I pull back from the kiss, nipping his lip. The Doctor groans. 

Placing a hand on my lower back, he encourages me to arch. This pushes my breasts up into his face, which he immediately takes advantage of. His hand cups one breast, rolling the nipple with his finger. He catches the other one with his mouth, delivering a sharp nip with his teeth. 

I gasp, not sure if I wanted to pull away or push further into his mouth. The Doctor soothes his tongue over the sting, and I melt down into the caress. He begins to suck on my nipple, tugging the other one simultaneously. 

“Doctor.” I moan. Each suck and tug combination is sending a bolt of liquid right to my core. My hands smooth down his shoulders, following the outline of his muscles. 

The Doctor pulls his mouth from my skin. “Mabel.” He murmurs, voice gravely. His pupils are blown wide open. “You smell so good.” The Doctor trails his hand down my stomach. 

I whimper. He leans up, catching the sound with his own mouth. This time there is no slow exploration. He dominates the kiss, hand tilting my head to where he wants it to be. Every spot he touches is driving me crazy. 

“Doctor.” I gasp, pulling away from the kiss. 

He smirks, shifting and rubbing his sex against mine. Teasing. 

Well, two can play at that game. I already have a hand on his shoulder, so I use that to give him one firm stroke form his hairline to the tops of his shoulders. 

The Doctor’s hips stutter into mine, a gasp of his own bursting forth. “Not fair.” He pants, voice a whole register lower than normal. The Doctor grinds against me, the head of his arousal brushing over my clit.

“Fuckkk.” I mouth into his shoulder. “Doctor, stop teasing.” 

The Doctor hums, fingers trailing down and testing my readiness. One finger dips in, then two. I clench around them, ready and wanting. He pulls back, and I whine in disapproval. He shushes me, fingers finding my center once again with three fingers this time. I shift, somewhat uncomfortable. The stretch burns, but it is quickly fading. The Doctor carefully scissors his fingers, preparing me.

I reach down and cup his sex. It’s a heavy bulk in the palm of my hand. His breathing stutters as I give it an exploratory pump. It’s not all the different from what a human man would have. A little wider maybe, with what feels to be ridges along the length. I’m sure it will feel amazing. 

With my hand, I tug on the short hairs at the base of his neck. Reaching into the connection, I fling it as open as I can make it go. A feedback loop snaps into place immediately. Our bodies arching into each other with urgency. 

My fingers dip down, swirling patterns into the back of his neck, driving our need higher. The Doctor pulls his fingers back from my core, a rumbling growl starting to vibrate from his chest. He reaches down and directs his length to my center, tip sliding through my slick.

I arch my hips towards him, frustrated with all the foreplay. The tip of him slips inside, my inner muscles clenching around it. The Doctor hisses, hips juddering forward and sinking in another two inches before he stops himself. 

“Mabel.” He rasps, his voice wrecked. The rumbling in his chest is getting louder. 

I can feel his body shaking from the effort it takes to hold back. “Doctor, please.” 

He groans, kissing me. It tastes like surrender. I hook my legs around his hips driving myself onto him the rest of the way. 

“Doctor!” I cry out into his mouth. There is a small hint of pain from the stretch, but I’m so aroused that it just adds to the pleasure. 

He rocks his hip forward with small grinding motions, helping my body get used to the stretch. 

Our pleasure spirals into each other’s. I feel the pleasure from the feeling of him rocking into me, but I also feel his pleasure from being the one pushing into the tight heat. 

The Doctor grabs my ass, pulling me farther into the cradle of his hips. His other hand comes up to grip the back of my neck. He continues the small thrusts. 

It feels as though he is hitting all of my pleasure spots all at once. The tension winds tighter, I am so very close. 

“Doctor,” I moan. “Doctor, please.” 

The Doctor’s hand tightens its grip on my ass, steadying my hips. He continues his thrusts, a steady beat. 

The pressure builds, and he squeezes the back of my neck hard. My body clamps down on his, his hips stuttering in response. 

The connection expands. Pulling the both of us into oblivion. Stars align, the blackness of space lighting up in response to our joining. 

I blink slowly, my brain rebooting. The Doctor’s hand is playing with the short strands of hair at the base of my neck. The rumbling in his chest has calmed, more of a purr than the roar it had been earlier. “The rumbles are new.” I mumble into his skin. 

The Doctor’s body shakes with laughter. “Rumbles, she says.” He presses a kiss to the side of my head. “It was your first time. Well, first time with me.”

I open my mouth to ask him to clarify, but my hips choose that moment to cramp. A little punched out noise leaves my lips as I try to curl up as much as possible. Which isn’t much, seeing as he is still in me, and I’m on his lap. The Doctor makes a wordless noise, curling his body around mine and adjusting my head so that it’s right against his chest. 

The vibrations of the rumbling in his chest is soothing. Realization blooms, I suddenly understand that the rumbling is for my comfort. “You knew?”

“Not until I kissed you by the Tardis.” The Doctor admits. “Your hormone levels gave you away.” He shifts, slipping out of me. I make a noise of disappointment. The Doctor shushes me, turning my body so I’m leaning against his chest. 

“Why would my hormone levels give away whether or not I’ve had penetrative sex with you before?” I ask him, confused. 

The Doctor smoothes a hand down my arm. “Hmm. That has to do with your unique situation and the physiology of Gallifreyans.”

He shifts, reaching over the edge of the tub for a washcloth, pouring soap on it. The Doctor starts washing along my arms, continuing his story. “Immense strain was placed on your body when you unconsciously adjusted yourself as close to human norms as you physically could. What you thought was monthly cycles was your body reacting to the strain. Your body was disposing of eggs, but it was doing so because your body was so overheated the eggs were being rejected. That was why your cycles were so sporadic and painful.” 

I turn my head to look at him, interested to see how this topic ties in with the other topic. The Doctor moves the washcloth along my ribs, cleaning my torso now. “Gallifreyans generally experience sexual maturity around their early thirties. Your body was forced into a parody of it at a much earlier age, and never got the chance to properly produce the hormones that sexual maturity would cause it to produce. That is, until your physiology was returned to normal.” He shifts me to the bench next to him, picking up my legs and gently wiping the washcloth along those as well. “I couldn’t smell the change on you, but when we kissed I could taste it. The only reason that would happen is if your physiology shifted recently.”

Frowning, I take the washcloth from him and load it back up with soap. Then I start wiping it along the lines of his arms, echoing the pattern he used to clean me. “I still don’t understand how that would tell you that this was the first time we had sex.”

I can feel the Doctor’s confusion, he turns around to face me, interrupting me as I try to wash his back. “How would I be able to have sex with you before you were producing the proper hormones?” 

“Bear with me here.” I say to him. “I’m still trying to figure all of this stuff out. So you’re saying that before I produced the hormones that told people I was sexually mature, no Gallifreyan would be able to have sex with me in return?”

“Corrrect.” He tells me, the trill becoming pronounced the more upset he gets. “My body wouldn’t have responded to you physically until you started producing them.”

Huh, that was handy. I kiss him, trying to soothe the upset that my question caused. “Thanks for telling me about this stuff. You’re right, it hasn’t been all that long since my physiology was reverted back to normal. I have no clue what to expect. Something always seems to come up and no one is able to explain anything.” 

The Doctor melts, stiff body relaxing into mine once again. “I forget sometimes that you don’t automatically know these things.”

We finish cleaning up quickly after that, drying off and getting into comfortable clothes. I find my journal sitting on my desk, and send a silent thank you up to the Tardis for making sure I got the version that I needed. 

Pulling out a pen, I contemplate the adventures that I’ve been on the last few days, wondering where to start.


	11. Uselessness (The Christmas Invasion)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I tried so hard to get 12 in here. I attempted to write two separate episodes with him. I even banged most of a chapter out, but it felt forced and unsatisfying. So I scrapped it and started new with a different Doctor. I'm still not entirely happy with this chapter now, but it is what it is. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy!
> 
> ~RainingCoffee

Finishing my entry, I sit back with a sigh. It hadn’t seemed so at the time but a lot had happened in just a few days.

My eyes slide over to the Doctor, who was in the process of cursing at some gizmo he was trying to get to work at his own desk. I walk up behind him and flop my body down on top of his, wrapping my arms around his neck. 

He oophs, but brings his own hand up to pat at my arms. “What’s all this then?” 

“Just reflecting over the last few days. A lot has happened.” I mumble into his hair. 

The Doctor hums, clasping one of my hands with his own and placing a kiss on it. He swivels his chair around so he’s facing me. 

Quietly, hoping the world will stop and listen, I duck my head into the Doctor’s neck and whisper. “I just want to stay in one place with you for a while.” 

The Doctor’s arms come up around me and crush me against his body tightly. “Oh Mabel.” His voice is sad. “I know. Trust me, I know.”

I close my eyes tightly against the heat I can already feel building up my legs. “I don’t want to go yet.”

The Doctor stokes my hair, but doesn’t say anything. I can feel his conflicting feelings swirling around in the back of my mind. I realize that the Doctor is just as upset as I am that I’m jumping. 

For some reason that thought is a comfort to me. My world goes white and this reality fades away, but for the first time in a long time, I’m smiling while it happens. 

~

I reappear in a tangle of limbs, flailing before hitting the ground. 

“Mabel?” I hear Rose ask. I groan in response, and she laughs. “I’m so glad you showed up! You left while we were in the Tardis and then he changed and now I don’t know what to do!” Her voice becomes progressively more frantic the longer she talks. 

My hand reaches out, still a little blind, to pat her on the back. “Woah hun. Slow down. What’s wrong?” 

She takes a deep breath to steady herself. “The Doctor sent us away because of the Daleks. But you wouldn’t accept that. I know that you knew how to pilot the Tardis, but you said you couldn’t to get back. You said you had no other choice.”

The more she talks, the more it feels as though something is being set in stone. “Rose.” I say, panic in my voice. “Stop talking, right now.”

But she doesn’t seem to hear me, or maybe she does and she doesn’t care. “You cracked open the heart of the Tardis and it went into you somehow.”

The feeling coalesces, a noose tightening around my neck. Rose starts to say more, but I lunge for her and cover her mouth with my palm. 

“Stop talking right now.” I demand. She takes in my expression, pupils dilating in surprise. “Don’t tell me anymore. You can’t tell me events that haven’t happened to me yet. If I had gone in blind, not knowing anything, then there was a good chance that I would have been able to fly the Tardis to go back. But you just told me that I open the heart of the Tardis and now I have no choice but to do that.” 

I pull my hand from her mouth, disappointed. “You said he changed? How? Did he change his face?” 

Rose nods, thoroughly chastised. “He’s in here.” She leads me towards a room in the back of an apartment.

I open the door and find the Doctor lying in a bed. The pretty boy Doctor with the great hair. Sitting down next to him on the side of the bed, I bring a hand up to feel his forehead. His temperature is higher than it should be. Reaching out mentally, I get a faint hint of exhaustion, healing, sleep, before his consciousness recedes. 

My eyes open, I hadn’t realized I had closed them in the first place. “He should be fine.” I murmur to Rose, hearing her answering sigh of relief. “He just needs to rest, I get the feeling this wasn’t a traditional regeneration.” 

Rose looks at me. “I forget sometimes that you guys are aliens, and then one of you goes and does something like this.” I can hear her feet rock back and forth on the carpet. “I’ll let mum know you’re here.” 

I hum in acknowledgement, but otherwise don’t move. This is the first time I’ve seen the Doctor down and out like this. It’s not an entirely pleasant feeling, seeing the person you care for helpless. My hand reaches out for his and I grip it tight, sending all the support I can muster. 

Some time later, a woman bustles into the room. Rose’s mom, more than likely. I attempt a smile but it must not have been very convincing because she tuts at me. 

“Poor dear. I’m Jackie, Rose’s mum. Rose stepped out, but I thought you’d like a cuppa.” Jackie tells me, handing me a hot cup of tea. 

My smile evens out into something more genuine and I take the cup from her. “Thanks Jackie, and thanks for not minding us being in your apartment.” 

Jackie waves me off. “Of course. Rose wouldn’t hear of anything different. And I can’t put a man out while he’s hurt. Even if he is rude.” She says the last part in a mumble under her breath. 

I laugh, and she sends me a mortified look. “Don’t worry Jackie. I’m quite aware he’s rude.” 

Her face is still a bit red, which probably contributes to the hurried pleasantries and the hasty exit from the room. I look back at the Doctor. “I’ve been spending to much time with you, mister. I’ve gotten out of practice with normal niceties.”

He doesn’t respond, but it’s not like I was expecting one anyways at this point. 

Hours pass. I’m starting to feel tired myself, but I have a feeling that going to sleep would be a bad idea right now. 

This feeling is proved correct when Rose, Jackie, and an unfamiliar man rush into the room. The man and Jackie push a dresser across the floor to block the door. There are noises as if something is smacking against the door violently.

“What going on?” I ask, alarmed. 

Rose goes over to the Doctor and shakes him. “Doctor, wake up!” 

He doesn’t wake up and Rose lunges for his leather jacket, frantically searching the pockets for something. A spinning Christmas tree? A spinning Christmas tree breaks through the door and starts heading towards us. 

Rose makes a noise of victory and places the sonic screwdriver in the Doctors hand. “What are you doing that for?” I ask her, incredulous. “Give that here.” I snatch the screwdriver from his hand and point it at the tree.

The Doctor had explained it a bit when I was with his bow tied self. The screwdriver was a little bit telepathic, basically point and think. Stop! I command, pressing the button on the side of the screwdriver at the same time. 

The tree violently explodes. The screwdriver dings with new information. I’m not entirely sure how the Doctor actually reads anything from the screwdriver, that’s a lesson I haven’t had yet. But I know what he normally does to get the information, so I try that. As soon as I bring up the side of the screwdriver to my eyes, a stream of information bursts into my head. Most of it doesn’t make any sense, but one thing stands out. 

“There was someone else behind that. Someone else was pulling the strings. But who?” I murmur, mostly to myself. 

The Doctor pushes me, at least that was what it feels like. A sort of mental nudge. There is something outside. 

I head outside, walking along the balcony. There are Santa’s out on the pavement below us. 

“That’s them. What are they?” The man asks. Rose shushes him. 

I raise the sonic screwdriver, and the Santa’s take a step back. A light comes from the sky and they are beamed away. 

The man scoffs. “They've just gone. What kind of rubbish were they? I mean, no offence, but they're not much if a sonic screwdriver's going to scare them off.”

Shaking my head, I look over at him. “No, they were just like the tree. Being controlled by something. But the fact that they left means that they must have found what they were looking for. That means whoever is controlling them is probably heading this way.”

The man doesn’t look pleased by that, which to be fair, I’m not all that pleased by it either. 

Jackie bustles all of us inside, sitting us down on the couch and making sure that everyone has a fresh cup of tea before anyone quite knows what’s going on. I hide a smile as I take a sip. Jackie and I will probably get along just fine. 

Rose directs her attention to me. “You said they were remote control. Who’s controlling them?” 

“I don’t know.” I admit. 

The man scowls. “Well what’s the point of you then?” 

“Mickey!” Rose scolds him. 

“No Rose.” Mickey argues. “You go off with them, trust them with your life and she doesn’t have any idea of what’s going on.” 

Rose puffs up, ready to fight. “It’s fine Rose.” I tell her, ignoring Mickey entirely. “Tell Jackie thanks for the tea, I’m going to go check on the Doctor.”

I leave them there, retreating to the bedroom. The Doctor is just as we left him earlier, sleeping rather peacefully. I clear off the debris from his blankets, picking a piece of door off his shoulder. 

“Mickey’s right.” I murmur out loud. As soon as we get back to the Tardis, I was going to find some books or something. I wasn’t of any use here. So far, I had mostly relied on the Doctor to figure things out. But I couldn’t do that now. 

Frankly, it was embarrassing. I had been riding on his coattails instead of doing anything for myself. Well, I thought to myself, I wouldn’t be doing that anymore. 

The door opens and Rose walks in, there’s a serious look on her face. “There’s something you should see.” 

I follow her out into the main room. She gestures at the tv. Though it would probably be more accurate to say that she’s pointing at the alien that the tv screen is broadcasting around the world. It has red eyes, with a head like a goat’s skull. It’s growling and shaking its head at the screen. 

“What do you wanna bet that this was what was controlling the tree and the robot santas.” I nod at the screen. 

“How come I can’t understand what it’s saying?” Rose asks. “The Tardis usually translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am.”

“That’s a good question.” I hum in contemplation. “I haven’t heard them do anything other than snarl. So they may not have said anything, or the translation circuit is busted.” I might not know a whole lot, but the translation circuit was one of the first things I asked the Doctor about. It was interesting to me that the Tardis translated so many different languages. 

Rose looks unhappy, but settles herself back in front of the tv. Several hours pass, several excruciating hours. I go in and check on the Doctor a few more times. Each time he seems just a little closer, mentally. I have a feeling he’s going to wake up soon. 

A commotion from the hallway breaks up the monotony of waiting. “-Jason? Jason?”

Rose and Mickey exchange a glance from where they are cuddling on the couch, then get up to go check it out. I follow them, taking in the scene outside the apartment. There seems to be a man walking along the hallway. A woman is right beside him, and she looks upset. 

“Sandra?” Rose asks the distraught woman. 

“He won't listen. He's just walking. He won't stop walking! There's this sort of light thing. Jason? Stop it right now! Please, Jason, just stop.” Sandra follows Jason as he walks towards a staircase. 

A glance down at the ground floor shows that several other people are doing the same thing. 

We follow them up to the roof. All of the people who seem to be controlled are lining up at the side of the roof. There’s a moment where my heart gets stuck in my throat and I’m positive that they are all going to jump, but nothing happens. 

“Something is wrong here.” I murmur to Rose. 

Mickey scoffs. “Of course something is wrong, there’s people lined up along the roof about to jump.” 

I glare at him. “I don’t know why you are being a dick, but I don’t appreciate the fact that you try to start a fight every time I say anything.” He opens his mouth to respond, but I cut him off. “And yeah, they are lined up, about to jump. So why haven’t they done so yet?” I shake my head. “This feels like a power play.”

I rush back downstairs to Rose’s apartment. A different woman has come onto the tv now. There is a small caption at the bottom of the screen. It tells us that she is Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Harriet Jones. “Ladies and gentlemen, if I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech. I'm afraid that's been cancelled.” 

Harriet looks off to the side and you can faintly hear her ask about the royal family. She looks disappointed by the response, before she shakes herself and refocuses on the camera. “But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say, it might get much worse. I would ask you all to remain calm. But I have one request. Doctor, if you're out there, we need you. I don't know what to do. If you can hear me, Doctor. If anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him, the situation has never been more desperate. Help us. Please, Doctor. Help us. God help us.”

Rose sniffles from behind me. I turn and fold her into a hug. “He’s left us Mabel!” 

I shush her. “He hasn’t left us Rose, he’s healing and will be back on his feet in no time. We just gotta hold down the fort until that happens.”

Her answering smile is a little wet, but at least it’s a smile. Unfortunately, this is the moment where all the glass in the flat shatters. As soon as it’s finished, I run over to look outside. There is a huge rock flying in from the outer atmosphere. 

“We need to move the Doctor, he isn’t safe here.” I murmur. 

Rose nods, determined. “Mickey, we're going to carry him. Mum, get your stuff, and get some food. We're going.”

Mickey frowns. “Where to?”

“The Tardis.” I answer. “It’s probably the only safe place right now.”

“What are we going to do in there?” Jackie asks. 

“Right now? Hide.” I respond.

Jackie looks at me in disbelief. “Is that it?”

“Mum, look in the sky. There's a great, big, alien invasion going on. And the Doctor is out of commission. The next person who knows half as much as him about aliens is Mabel, and if she is telling us to go hide, then it’s a good idea to go hide.” Rose tells her mother. 

Jackie bustles off to the kitchen with Rose, probably to grab the supplies Rose asked her to, and I head over to the room the Doctor is in. He’s still laying there. Someone, probably Jackie, has tucked a small bear under one of his arms. 

“Alright Doctor.” I say to him. “This isn’t going to be big on dignity.” Pulling the blankets off of him, I shift him closer to the edge of the bed. I position my arms around his waist, pulling and using the momentum to throw him over my shoulder in a fireman’s hold. 

A noise from the door causes me to turn. Mickey is there, gaping at me. I supposed it does look funny. A woman who is 5 feet, 2 inches carrying someone who is about 6 feet over her shoulder. “Do you know where the Tardis is?” 

There is still a dumbfounded look on his face, but Mickey heads for the door, gesturing for me to follow. Rose and Jackie emerge from the kitchen. Rose has a couple of grocery bags and Jackie has a few more. 

Rose unlocks the Tardis and we all bustle through the doors. I kneel, placing the Doctor gently on the ground, hand coming up to cradle his head so it doesn’t smack on the flooring. On second thought, I pull my jacket off and place it under his head as a cushion. 

Rose and Mickey walk over to the console and start a quiet conversation. I tune them out as best as I can, focusing on the Doctor. He’s closer now, it won’t be long until he wakes up.

Jackie walks back into the Tardis, I hadn’t been aware that she has left in the first place. “Right, here we go. Nice cup of tea.” She says, holding up a thermos. 

“Mmm, the solution to everything.” Rose teases, taking the thermos.

“Now, stop your moaning.” Jackie scolds, heading back towards the door. “I'll get the rest of the food.”

“Tea.” Mickey laughs. “Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British. How does this thing work?” He asks, pointing to the Tardis monitor. “If it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there. Maybe we've surrendered. What do you do to it?”

Rose shrugs. “I don't know. It sort of tunes itself.” She places the thermos on the side of the console, looking towards the door. “I should go help mum. It might start raining missiles out there or something.” 

“Tell her anything from a tin, that’s fine.” Mickey suggests as Rose walks towards the door. He picks up the thermos and opens it, getting a drink ready. 

Rose scoffs. “Why don't you tell her yourself?”

Mickey cringes. “I’m not that brave.” 

“That’s right.” Rose nods, stepping outside. Seconds later she screams. Mickey darts for the door, dropping the thermos. I’m only a step behind him. 

“Get off! Get off me!” Rose commands the alien that has a hold of her, struggling. 

I lunge for the door, managing to close it right before one of the aliens grab me. They yank me over to where they have Rose and what looks to be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. 

“Rose!” The Prime Minister, Harriet I think her name was, exclaims. Her and Rose hug. “Rose! I've got you. My Lord. Oh, my precious thing. The Doctor, is he with you?”

“No.” Rose admits. “But Mabel is here.”

An alien, I really need to figure out what they are called, steps forward. “The yellow girl. She has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet.” 

The man at Harriet’s side repeats it, and I realize that they still can’t hear it properly like I can. It must be because I am connected to the Tardis. 

I step forward before anyone else can say anything. “No, I will speak for this planet.” 

“You speak the language of the Sycorax?” The alien, a Sycorax most probably, asks. 

“Oh, I speak a little of everything.” I say whimsically, smile shaper than steel. I’m frantically trying to remember what the Doctor said all those years ago. “More importantly, I want to know just what you think you’re doing. This is a fully established level five planet. You have people lined up along roof tops, about to jump off. I wonder what the Shadow Proclamation would have to say about that.”

The Sycorax that had stepped forward narrows it eyes at me. The other Sycorax, and there are hundreds all around the dome we have found ourselves in, all quiet down. 

“What do you know about the shadow proclamation?” The Sycorax demands. 

“I know enough. Enough to know that what you are doing here is illegal.” I respond. 

The Sycorax smiles, a ghastly sight. “Then we shall have to dispose of you.” 

It should have been an effective threat, but at that moment my connection with the Doctor goes from passive to active. Awareness blooms as the Doctor brushes his consciousness over mine. There are gasps from behind me as the translation circuit seem to find a conduit through the Doctor once more. “Hold on, that’s English.” The translator exclaims. 

“I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile.” The Sycorax insists. 

“That's English. Can you hear English?” Rose asks someone. 

Mickey nods. “Yeah, that's English.”

The Sycorax scowls. “I speak only Sycoraxic!”

“If I can hear English, then it's being translated. Which means it's working. Which means-“ Rose cuts herself off. 

The door to the Tardis opens, and the Doctor’s voice fills the air. “Did you miss me?” 

“You’re late!” I scold him, looking over my shoulder at him. At that same time, I share worry and my relief that he is okay now.

His smile turns sheepish. Before he gets a chance to respond, the Sycorax that is in front of me yells and cracks a whip towards the Doctor. 

The Doctor catches it, yanking it out of the Sycorax’s hand. “You could have someone's eye out with that.” He scolds. 

“How dare!” The Sycorax spits. Taking a step back, I try to draw as little attention to myself as possible. I have no desire to become collateral again. 

The Doctor grabs a club off of another Sycorax, snapping it in half over his knee. It would look as if he did it for no reason, but the quicksilver flash of his eyes in my direction tells a different story. He keeping the attention on himself so I have time to move out of the way. “You just can't get the staff. Now, you, just wait. I'm busy.” The Doctor points a finger in the Sycorax’s face, serious. He turns back to us, his expression doing a complete 180. “Mickey, hello! And Harriet Jones MP for Flydale North. Blimey, it's like This Is Your Life. Tea! That's all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses. Now, first thing's first.” He says, spinning around and stopping right in front of me. “Be honest, how do I look?”

“Wellll.” I draw out, teasing. “You seem to be a bit of a pretty boy now.”

“A pretty boy?” Scandalized, his hands come up to feel his face. 

A comment from the last time he regenerated comes to mind. “And you’re still not ginger.” 

The Doctor groans. “I wanted to be ginger. I've never been ginger.” He suddenly points a finger into my face. “And you, you picked me up like a sack of potatoes. You could have asked someone else to help, y’know? Oh, that's rude. That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude. Rude and not ginger.”

“I'm sorry.” Harriet interrupts. “Who is this?”

“I’m the Doctor.” The Doctor says. 

“But what happened to my Doctor? Or is it a title that's just passed on?” She asks, bewildered.

“I'm him. I'm literally him.” The Doctor insists. “Same man, new face. Well, new everything.”

Harriet shakes her head. “But you can't be.”

The Doctor looks her in the eyes and lowers his voice. “Harriet Jones, we were trapped in Downing Street and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens, it wasn't the war, it was the thought of your mother being on her own.”

“Oh, my God.” Harriet murmurs. 

“Did you win the election?” The Doctor asks, expression lighting up. 

Harriet beams back at him. “Landslide majority.”

The leader of the Sycorax steps forward. “If I might interrupt.” 

“Yes, sorry.” The Doctor says, spinning to look at the Sycorax. “Hello, big fellow.”

“Who exactly are you?” The Sycorax asks. 

“Well, that's the question.” The Doctor responds, scratching at his chin.

The Sycorax visibly loses its limited patience. “I demand to know who you are!”

“I don't know!” The Doctor yells back. “See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?” He winks at me. I roll my eye in return. “Right old misery? Life and soul? Right handed? Left handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob.”

“You can say that again.” I mumble, the Doctor’s lips twitch in response. 

“And how am I going to react when I see this, a great big threatening button.” The Doctor continues., rushing up a set of stairs. We all follow him. As stated, there is a large red button sitting on a pillar of sorts. “A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances, am I right? Let me guess. It's some sort of control matrix, hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?” He fiddles with the pillar under the red button, opening up a compartment.

“And what've we got here? Blood?” The Doctor muses, dipping a finger in and tasting it. Ugh, so gross. He was definitely brushing his teeth before I let him kiss me after that. “Yeah, definitely blood. Human blood. A Positive, with just a dash of iron. Ah, but that means blood control. Blood control! Oh, I haven't seen blood control for years. You're controlling all the A Positives. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. Because I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So if I see a great big threatening button which should never, ever, ever be pressed, then I just want to do this.” He slams his hand down on the button.

“No!” Harriet and Rose exclaim.

“You killed them!” The translator accuses. 

“What do you think, big fellow? Are they dead?” The Doctor asks the Sycorax.

“We allow them to live.” The leader proclaims. 

“Allow?” The Doctor scoffs. “You've no choice. I mean, that's all blood control is. A cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis. You can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis. You can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong.”

The Sycorax leader puffs his chest out. “Blood control was just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force.”

The Doctor considers that. “Well, yeah, you could, yeah, you could do that, of course you could. But why?” He leans in and looks at the Sycorax leader sincerely. “Look at these people. These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than.” Wait a minute. That’s really familiar. “No, hold on. Sorry, that's The Lion King. But the point still stands. Leave them alone!”

“Or what?” The Sycorax jeers. 

“Or.” The Doctor grabs a sword from one of the Sycorax, rushing back over to us. “I challenge you.”

All of the Sycorax, every one of them in the dome, laughs at that.

“Oh, that struck a chord.” The Doctor looks around. “Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?”

“You stand as this world's champion.” The Leader states. 

The Doctor smirks. “Thank you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up.” He removes his dressing gown and throws it over to Rose. “So, you accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?”

The Sycorax leader hisses in offense. “For the planet?”

“For the planet.” The Doctor confirms. 

Both of them lunge forward, swords clashing against one another. 

“Look out!” Rose cries. 

“Oh, yeah, that helps. Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks.” The Doctor replies sarcastically. His face scrunches up as the Sycorax presses him closer to a corner. It’s evident that the Sycorax leader is the better swordsperson. 

The Doctor retreats up a tunnel. “Bit of fresh air?” He asks cheekily. 

We follow them out onto a ledge outside. The Doctor crosses swords with the Sycorax multiple times, but despite his best efforts, he gets driven back towards the edge of the platform. The leader does a particularly fancy move and smacks the Doctor across the nose with the back of his arm.

I take a step forward, but the Doctor stops me. “Stay back!” He yells, throwing out his arm in warning. “Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet.”

The Doctor charges the Sycorax leader once again, but the Sycorax leader seems to have grown tired of beating the Doctor up and knocks him to the ground. The Doctor is right up next to the edge. My muscles lock up, heart in my throat as I wait. 

The Sycorax brings his sword down and cuts the Doctor’s hand off. The hand, and the sword it was carrying, fall off the platform. “You cut my hand off.” The Doctor says in disbelief. He sits up, throwing me a glance and shaking his head. He must feel how close I am to running over, planet be damned.

“Ya! Sycorax!” The leader chants, the rest of the Sycorax cheering. 

The Doctor stands up slowly. “And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. Because quite by chance I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle, which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy to do this.” He brandishes the arm with the missing hand and a new hand grows right out of the stump. 

“Witchcraft.” The Sycorax leader hisses. 

“Time Lord.” The Doctor corrects. 

From beside me, Rose grabs a new sword from one of the Sycorax beside us. “Doctor!” She cries, throwing the sword over to him. 

“Want to know the best bit?” The Doctor asks the Sycorax leader, twirling the sword around. “This new hand? It's a fighting hand!” He finishes with the worst southern accent I’ve ever heard before. 

“Oh.” I mumble under my breath, certain he can still hear me. “You are never doing that again.” 

The Doctor grimaces, and I get a burst of agreement through the connection. 

The Sycorax leader charges the Doctor again, but it’s clear that with the new hand the Doctor now has the advantage. The Doctor disarms the Sycorax leader, thumping him in the abdomen with the back of both swords. The leader falls down, right at the edge of the platform.

“I win.” The Doctor states, placing a sword to the Sycorax leader’s neck.

“Then kill me.” The Sycorax leader grits out through his teeth.

The Doctor contemplates the Sycorax leader. “I'll spare your life if you'll take this Champion's command. Leave this planet, and never return. What do you say?”

The Sycorax glares up at the Doctor. “Yes.”

“Swear on the blood of your species.” The Doctor insists. 

“I swear.” The Sycorax hisses. 

The Doctor pulls his sword back, smiling. “There we are, then. Thanks for that. Cheers, big fellow.” He turns and walks back in our direction. 

“Bravo!” Harriet exclaims. 

“That says it all.” Rose agrees. “Bravo!”

“Ah, not bad for a man in his jim-jams.” The Doctor says, beaming at us. 

“Not bad at all.” I confirm, sending affection across the connection. 

Rose holds out the robe for the Doctor. He takes it, shrugging it back on. “Very Arthur Dent. Now, there was a nice man.” I feel his confusion as he reaches into the pocket of his robe. “Hold on, what have I got in here? And apple and a satsuma?” The Doctor looks at me, but I shrug. I have a good of a clue as he does at this point. The Doctor shrugs back. “But doesn't that just sum up Christmas? You go through all those presents and right at the end, tucked away at the bottom, there's always one stupid old satsuma. Who wants a satsuma?”

We start to walk back inside. I keep an eye on the surrounding Sycorax. This feels a bit like a trap, and I don’t want to get caught up in one again. 

From behind us, there comes a warrior cry. The Doctor immediately throws the satsuma in his hand and hits a button on the side of the ship, his face is severe. The warrior cry turns into a scream. I look behind us to see that part of the platform has receded, leaving the Sycorax leader falling. 

“No second chances.” The Doctor states. “I'm that sort of a man.” 

A shiver runs down my spine. I know he did it in self defense. The Sycorax leader would have killed us, but still. I wasn’t expecting that. The Doctor swings an arm over my shoulders, tugging me closer to him. I clutch the side of his robe in response. 

The Doctor leads us to stand in the middle of the dome. He looks up at the assembled Sycorax and starts to talk. “By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time. And when go you back to the stars and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of it's riches, it's people, it's potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this. It. Is. Defended.” 

The Sycorax are silent, but we are beamed back down to Earth. 

“Where are we?” Rose asks. 

“We're just off Bloxom Road. We're just round the corner, we did it!” Mickey exclaims. 

“Wait a minute, wait one minute.” The Doctor murmurs, looking up at the Sycorax spaceship. 

The ship hums, taking off into the atmosphere. The Doctor smiles in response. 

Mickey jumps up and down, embracing Rose. “Go on, my son! Oh, yeah!”

Rose beams. “Yeah! Don't come back!”

“It is defended!” Mickey shouts.

Harriet Jones comes over. “My Doctor.” 

The Doctor smiles at her. “Prime Minister.” 

“Absolutely the same man.” She shakes her head. “Are there many more out there?”

“Oh, not just Sycorax. Hundreds of species. Thousands of them. And the human race is drawing attention to itself. Every day you're sending out probes and messages and signals. This planet's so noisy. You're getting noticed more and more. You'd better get used to it.” The Doctor advises her. 

“Rose!” Jackie calls from down the road, running towards us. 

“Mum!” Rose calls back, overjoyed. 

“Oh, talking of trouble.” The Doctor mumbles, letting go of me and turning to walk towards them. 

I look at Harriet Jones, smiling. “You were amazing up there. Didn’t lose your cool, attempting to negotiate. You were fantastic.”

“Thank you.” She says to me. 

The translator guy’s phone rings. “It’s a message from Torchwood. They say they're ready.” He informs Harriet. 

“Tell them to fire.” Harriet tells him. 

“Wait what?” I ask, sending a bolt of alarm over to the Doctor to get his attention. “Tell me you aren’t going to do what I think you’re about to do.”

“Fire at will.” The translator says into the phone despite my protest. The Doctor’s shoulder brushes against mine right as five beams of light meet in the middle of the sky, combine and shoot out into space. The Sycorax asteroid explodes under the force.

“What’s going on?” Rose exclaims. 

“That was murder.” The Doctor states, his voice is cold. 

Harriet raises her chin. “That was defense. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago.”

“They were leaving.” My voice is just as cold as the Doctor’s. 

“You said yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth.” She tries to justify it. “I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today. Mister Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case we have to defend ourselves.” 

I scoff. “Shooting someone in the back as they walk away isn’t defense.”

“Britain’s Golden Age.” The Doctor says in disgust. 

“It comes with a price.” Harriet insists. 

“I gave them the wrong warning.” The Doctor responds. “I should've told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race.”

Harriet looks at us. “Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf.”

“Then I should have stopped you.” I tell her, disappointed. My earlier words, where I praised her, taste like ash in my mouth. 

“What does that make you, the both of you? Another alien threat?” She demands. 

“Don't challenge us, Harriet Jones. You may have met us once before, but now we’re completely new people.” The Doctor leans in. “I could bring down your Government with a single word.”

Harriet shakes her head. “You're the most remarkable man I've ever met, but I don't think you're quite capable of that.”

“No, you're right. Not a single word, just six.” The Doctor corrects himself. 

“I don’t think so.” She responds. 

“Six words.” He repeats. 

Harriet is visibly uncomfortable now. “Stop it!” She tells the Doctor. 

“Six.” The Doctor tells her softly. He moves around me, walking over to the translator. Removing the Bluetooth device from his ear, the Doctor leans in. He says just six words, like he promised. “Don’t you think she looks tired.” 

Finished, the Doctor doesn’t even look back at Harriet Jones as he walks away, gently placing a hand on my arm and guiding me away with him. 

“What did he say?” I hear Harriet ask the translator. 

“Oh, well, nothing, really.” The translator responds. 

“What did he say?” She asks again, more insistently. 

“Nothing. I don't know.” The translator repeats, clearly taken aback by her tone. 

“Doctor!” Harriet calls after us. “Doctor, what did you? What was that? What did he say? What did you say, Doctor? Doctor! I'm sorry.”

He doesn’t look back, and neither do I. My sympathy dried up when the beams of energy made the Sycorax ship explode. 

After we round the corner, and Harriet isn’t visible anymore, the Doctor relaxes his hold on my arm. His fingers trail down to my hand and I thread my fingers through his. 

Jackie beams at everyone. “I’ll make us the best Christmas dinner you could imagine, just you wait.”

The Doctor hesitates. “How about we meet you there?” I offer. “I’m sure the Doctor wants to change out of these pajamas and into something new.” 

“Oh, alright.” Jackie frowns at us. “But don’t you even think about leaving before hand mister. Or I’ll have a slap ready when you get back!” 

“Alright, Alright.” The Doctor says. “I won’t leave before dinner, I promise.” The Tardis is back where we left Harriet Jones, so we turn and head in that direction. 

I hide my smile in his shoulder. It’s funny to see the Doctor cowed by Rose’s mother. “It’s not funny Mabel.” He grumbles. “Jackie Tyler has one heck of a slap. Y’know I spent hundreds of years traveling around and never once did I get slapped by someone’s mother. Then I met Jackie Tyler and it was all ‘Pow’.” 

“I bet you deserved it too.” I say to him. He doesn’t respond, but I can feel his embarrassment in response so I’m going to assume I’m right.

Thankfully, Harriet and her translator have left by the time we walk back around the corner, so we don’t have to deal with them. 

The Doctor opens the Tardis with a key that he pulls out of somewhere. No seriously, those aren’t even his clothes where did it come from? He winks at me as I open my mouth to ask, so I decide not to say anything at all. Leave it to mystery. 

“So I’m a pretty boy huh?” The Doctor muses, scrunching his nose up. 

“You haven’t looked in a mirror yet, have you?” I tease him. 

He uses our linked hands to pull me closer. “I don’t have to. It doesn’t matter what I look like, so long as I look good to you.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“Charmer.” I murmur back, reaching up to cup his cheek. “I suppose you are handsome by conventional standards, but you have to know that what you look like doesn’t generally matter to me. I care for you because you are the Doctor, not because of what your face looks like.” 

The Doctor’s face turns sappy, and he leans in to kiss me. “Yeah, no.” I tell him, shifting my hand to his mouth and pushing him away. “You are going to go brush your teeth before you kiss me. Or did you forget that you decided to put human blood in your mouth earlier.” 

“Yes, I had actually.” The Doctor grimaces, then pouts down at me. “Are you sure I can’t convince you to reconsider?” 

“Brush. Your. Teeth.” I insist, pushing him towards the hallway. He goes, grumbling the whole way. 

~

The first thing the Doctor does when we reach our room is go into the bathroom. I head into the wardrobe, picking out a new pair of leggings and after a moment of deliberation, a simple tank top and comfy cardigan. 

I throw the clothes onto the bed in preparation, but before I can strip and head into the bathroom myself, the Doctor reemerges looking determined. 

He reaches me, hands cupping the bottom of my face, circling around my neck. The kiss that follows causes my toes to curl in my shoes and leaves my knees weak. 

“Woah.” I murmur, the taste of his toothpaste is minty in my mouth. 

The Doctor smirks. “You were right. I am a bit of a pretty boy this go.” 

I hum in response, walking us back towards the bed. We flop down, the Doctor curling up with his head on my stomach. My hand runs through his hair, a comfort to both of us. “I’m glad you are awake and okay now.” I admit. 

The Doctor sighs. “It was a..difficult regeneration.” 

“I suppose you can’t tell me why?” I try. He shakes his head in response. “Hmm, okay. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?” 

“You’re already doing it.” The Doctor responds, sharing with me just how much my presence is a balm to his new mental connections. 

I’m pleased that I can help, but that was a really sappy answer. “That was a really sappy answer mister.” 

The Doctor hums. “Didn’t you know? I’m the king of sap.”

“I’m starting to get that impression.” I tell him, a sappy smile of my own on my face. The smile fades though, as I remember what Rose said to me earlier and the reaction my body had to it. 

“Okay.” I say. “Serious talk now. Something happened earlier, while you were sleeping.” The Doctor sits up, sensing the change in my mood. He looks concerned. “Rose started telling me about what had happened-“

“She what?” The Doctor asks, alarmed. “How much did she tell you?”

“She told me that I said I couldn’t fly the Tardis back, and that-“ I hesitate at the look on his face. The Doctor’s expression is becoming more angry the more I say. “She told me that I took the Tardis inside of myself.” 

The Doctor’s body locks up, everything in him going tense. “I stopped her before she could say anything else, but I could feel it. I don’t have a choice anymore do I? When the time comes, I’m going to have to do what she told me I did.” I throw an arm over my eyes so I don’t have to see his expression. “And I have a feeling that me doing so is directly responsible for your regeneration. I don’t want to be responsible for your death.” 

Sighing, the Doctor removes my arm from over my eyes. “It’s a fixed point now. When the time comes, you won’t have a choice. And you didn’t cause my regeneration, it was my choice.” He taps me on the nose. “You’re always going on about how it’s your choice to stay with me, well that works in reverse too you know. It’s my choice to be with you, even if it ends up being dangerous.” 

I frown up at him. “Besides.” He continues. “We have the benefit of multiple lives to soften the blow when it comes to permanent endings.”

“I feel as though you meant that to be comforting, but I’m not quite sure if it worked out that way.” I tell him. 

“Maybe not.” The Doctor responds. “But it got you to stop thinking about my death.” 

“Can we stop talking about your death and go back to kissing or something?” I ask, somewhat desperately. 

His lips quirk up into a smile. “As much as I wouldn’t mind kissing you more, you were the one who told them we were going to come to dinner, so we should probably get ready for that.”

I sigh in response, getting up from the bed reluctantly. “And why did I go and do that?” 

The Doctor shakes his head, I can clearly feel his bafflement in response. “It probably has something to do with the fact that you actually like Jackie.” 

The statement is said with such honest confusion that I can’t help but bark out a laugh in response. “Of course I like her. She seems like a dependable sort of woman.”

He makes a noise like he doesn’t agree, but to be fair, most of his attention seems to be on me as I tug him up from his sitting position. I kiss him, gentle but insistent. The Doctor opens for me willingly, and paying close attention to the connection, I focus on finding and exploiting all of his sensitive areas. 

I pull back and the Doctor follows me, like a pendulum on a swing. I kiss him once, twice, three more times and then shift back to rest my forehead against his. 

“Woah is right.” The Doctor murmurs. 

My lips quirk up in a smile, and I can’t help but feel a little smug in response. “Stop that.” He mutters petulantly. “It makes me want to kiss you again.”

“I’m not seeing the downside to that.” I tell him. “But, you’re probably right. We should start getting ready. I’m assuming you want to go find a new outfit?”

The Doctor nods, eye going distant. “Any hints dear?”

I hum. That’s a tough one. “Think professional but casual at the same time.”

“What kind of hint was that?” He asks, refocusing on my face.

“An accurate one.” I say, lips twitching at his feigned frustration.


	12. Farther back (The Ark in Space)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to stop making promises. There was a plan to have this chapter out last week, but as you can see that never happened. Rest assured, I have been spending just about all my free time on this chapter. Hopefully the 25,000 words make up for the long wait?
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> -RainingCoffee

An hour and twenty minutes later, the Doctor walks back into our room and takes a seat on the side of my desk. I finish the sentence I’m writing, before looking up and smiling at what I see. The Doctor is in his signature pinstriped suit, converse feet swinging back and forth. 

“It was a pretty accurate hint.” He admits. 

I stand up, straightening his tie and adjusting it in his shirt. “Looking amazing as always sweetheart.” 

The Doctor preens, pressing a kiss to my cheek in response. He lingers there, taking a deep breath and then exhaling. “I’m sorry.” 

“Sorry?” I ask in confusion. 

“I remember this outfit.” The Doctor explains, tugging on my cardigan. “The next place you jump to is in my past. I remember it, and I want you to know that I’m sorry.” 

Placing a hand on his cheek, I pull back to look at him. There is guilt in his expression, as well as regret. A flippant comment almost comes off my tongue, but I have a feeling that at the moment it would just make everything worse. “It’s alright sweetheart, I’ll remember this when it happens okay?”

He rests his forehead against mine. “See you on the other side dear.”

I have just enough time to be confused before I’m whipped away. 

~

I reappear, thankfully stumbling into a wall so I don’t fall down. “Oh, I say!” An unfamiliar man’s voice comes from behind me. 

A hand is put on my back, and I blink the spots out of my eyes as I smile up at the person. “Thank you, sir.” 

“Of course, of course, it’s no problem at all.” The man pauses. “Say, do you realize that you just appeared in the middle of the hallway in a ball of light?”

“Yeah, that tends to happen to me a lot.” I tell him, looking around the area. “You wouldn’t be able to lead me to the Doctor would you?” 

The confusion on his face clears up. “Of course ma’am, right through here.” He gestures down the hallway. “I’m Harry Sullivan, and you might be?”

“My name’s Mabel. Mabel Falkov.” I introduce myself. 

Harry nods at me in response, directing the both of us down the hallway. He rounds the corner first, addressing the people inside. “Hello Doctor, I have someone here who was looking for you.”

This is a new Doctor for me. The first time I’ve met this one I mean. The pretty boy had shown me pictures but nothing beat seeing the overlong scarf and curly hair in real life. In fact, he has so much hair that his hat barely fits on his head. He looks as though he was just about to head into the Tardis with a woman, who I’m assuming is his current companion. 

The Doctor turns around, and his eyes scan me dispassionately. “I will not fill out those forms, I will not. Tell the Brigadier that it is not going to happen.” 

“I don’t know what forms you are talking about.” I respond, my eyebrows coming together in confusion. 

“Oh, are you a fan then?” The Doctor dismisses me. “No thanks are necessary, and I don’t give out autographs.” 

I cross my arms over my chest and raise an eyebrow. “I’m becoming less of a fan by the moment.” 

He waves a hand at me in a distracted manner, turning his attention to Harry. “We're just going on a little trip.” He brandishes a bag of sweets. “Would you like a jelly baby?”

Harry takes a sweet, looking back and forth between the Doctor and me. “A little trip? Where, in that   
old police box?” 

The Doctor snatches the jelly baby back from Harry, testily. “Yes, as a matter of fact, in that old police box.” 

“Oh, come along now, Doctor. We're both reasonable men. Now, we both know that police boxes don't go careering around all over the place.” Harry tries to reason with the Doctor. 

“Do we?” The Doctor asks, looking at Harry intensely. The woman behind the Doctor giggles in response. 

Harry laughs a bit. “Of course we do. The whole idea's absurd.” 

“Is it?” He asks Harry, leaning in a bit. “You wouldn't like to step inside a moment? Just to demonstrate that it is all an illusion.”

“Well, if you think it'll do any good.” Harry responds. 

“Oh, yes, it'll make me feel a lot better.” The Doctor insists. 

“Doctor!” The woman behind him scolds.

Harry looks between the two of us again. “I must confess, I’m rather confused. When you said you were looking for the Doctor, Mabel, I was under the impression you knew him.” 

The Doctor, who had been in the middle of turning back to the Tardis, freezes. 

“Oh, I know him.” I murmur, seeing the Doctor’s shoulders go up in response to my voice. “It’s all very wibbly though, we never meet in the right order.” 

The Doctor turns back towards me, what I can see of his ears show them to be bright red. He takes his hat off, running a hand through his hair. “You’re Mabel? Why didn’t you say so at once?” He attempts to scold me. 

Now I’m actually starting to get a bit peeved. The Doctor didn’t recognize me and somehow that’s my fault? “You know, I might have, but you were busy making assumptions.” 

He deflates, looking like a kicked puppy. I sigh in response, scowling at him. “Alright, Alright. I can’t stay mad at you when you do that.” The Doctor looks up hesitantly, making sure I’m not still mad. “I have a feeling this is pretty rare though! This is the first time you’ve met this me, and this is the first time I’ve met this you.” 

The Doctor hums in response. “Yes, I do believe so. So, this is a new body for you then?” 

Intellectually I was aware that the Doctor told me I was like him but until this moment I didn’t realize that meant I would change like he did. It’s a very strange realization.

“No.” Looking down, I gesture at my body. “This is the original for me.”

His mouth drops open, and he gapes at me. “This is your first body?” 

Confused at his reaction, I nod. “Yes, this is my first body.”

“Oh Mabel.” The Doctor murmurs. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this young before.” 

I roll my eyes, more exasperated than upset. “And this is the youngest I’ve ever seen you. Now that we’ve gotten past that, can we move on?” My hand reaches out to tug on his scarf. “I think you were just about to show Harry the Tardis.”

“Oh yes, go on then.” The Doctor directs to Harry. 

Harry looks at me, and I nod in response. “Right-o.” He steps into the Tardis and there is a moment of silence. “Oh, I say!”

The woman smiles back at us, giddy, before stepping into the Tardis. I’ve got to admit, hearing someone react to the Tardis for the first time is a treat. 

“The youngest you’ve seen me eh?” The Doctor asks, placing a hand on my back, urging me to enter the Tardis ahead of him. The console room is small and streamlined, I was beginning to find that the farther I jumped back, the more the console room was like this. It would be an easy indicator in the future if the pattern held out.

“Yeah, I’ve been seeing your later faces. I assume it’s been the same for you?” I respond, smiling at him over my shoulder. 

“Yes.” He replies, looking distracted. “Are we, have we-“ The Doctor trails off, looking embarrassed. 

I glance over to make sure that Harry and the woman are still distracted. They are, the woman is showing Harry around the console room, before turning towards the Doctor all the way. “What’s the matter?” 

His eyes skitter over my left shoulder and his ears go bright red again. 

“Is this your way of asking if we are together for me?” I ask delicately.

“Yes.” The Doctor grumbles, placing a hand over his face. “But I always end up tripping over words when you are around, it’s infuriating.” 

I can’t help but laugh, immediately trying to stifle it as the Doctor emerges from under his hand flustered and ready for confrontation. “Sorry, Sorry. It’s just that, as long as I’ve known you, you’ve never been shy with words like this. It’s actually kind of flattering.” A man like that Doctor, being brought down by nerves just like anyone else. “You aren’t the only one who gets nervous sweetheart.” I admit. 

The Doctor scans my face, flush fading from his own. “You never answered my question.” He murmurs. 

“We are together for me, yes. Kissing and handholding are pretty common.” He looks down at me, but doesn’t react. “If you didn’t realize, that was a hint. Unless we aren’t together for you yet? In which case, Spoilers.”

“Yes, we are together from my point of view.” The Doctor says, hand coming up to cup my cheek. There is something sad in his expression that I can’t put a name to. “This is going to be much harder than I thought it was going to be.”

Before I can respond, the woman calls over. “Doctor, stop flirting and come show Harry how the Tardis works.” 

My face heats up with the heat of my answering blush. The Doctor laughs in response, his gentle hand on my chin keeping me from moving over towards the console. He starts to lean down, probably intending to kiss me, but I shift uncomfortably. It was one thing to kiss him while his companions were distracted, another thing entirely to kiss him while they were staring at us. 

He moves his other hand, which is still holding his hat, bringing it up as a barrier between my face, and the gaze of his two companions. Oh Doctor, always a gentleman. In return, I lean up and kiss him. The kiss is soft, exploratory. This is the first time either of us have kissed the other body. As our kiss continues, the connection snaps into focus. It’s far stronger than I’m used to.

The Doctor pulls back, placing his hat back on his head and heading over to the console. I can feel how pleased he is with himself, smug male satisfaction bleeding over. I follow, blush persisting under the woman’s knowing glance. 

“So you’re Mabel?” She asks me. “You said that this was the first time you’d seen this Doctor, so I’m going to assume that you haven’t met me yet. I’m Sarah Jane Smith.” Sarah introduces herself, holding out a hand for me to shake. 

“Hello Sarah Jane Smith.” I say, shaking her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“Well, I say old chap. How is all of this inside of the police box?” Harry asks. 

“It’s dimensionally transcendental.” The Doctor explains. 

Confusion covers Harry’s face. I step in, because it doesn’t look like the Doctor is going to explain anything else. “Think of it this way. There are two separate dimensions at play. The one outside of the Tardis that we were just in, and the one we stepped into the moment we came through the doors. That allows the Tardis to look like a police box on the outside, while being bigger on the inside.” 

“I’m fairly certain I was able to understand those words individually, but not as you put them together.” Harry admits. 

“Well, I think it’s best to take her on a short trip to the moon to prove it to you Harry.” The Doctor states. 

Harry frowns. “To prove what?” 

The Doctor doesn’t respond, just smiles mischievously and starts the sequence to take us to the moon. 

“What does this do?” Harry asks, spinning a dial all the way around. 

“No!” The Doctor and I yell at the same time, but we are too late. The Tardis jerks sharply, throwing everyone to the ground. I slam into the Doctor, his arms come around me and stop my trajectory towards the wall. 

Several seconds of shaking commence, before the whine of the Tardis’s stressed engines start to calm down. She makes the noise of materialization. 

There is silence for a second. “Well, if we actually ended up on the moon after that I’d be surprised.” I say to break the tension. 

It doesn’t seem to work. The Doctor immediately sits up, furious expression on his face. “What did you think you were doing?” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do anything.” Harry insists. 

I get up, holding out a hand to help the Doctor up. He takes it, brushing the dust from my shoulders once he’s standing again. 

Then he stalks over to the monitor, looking over the information. “It seems to be rather dark out there. Go grab an oil lamp, would you Sarah?” 

Sarah nods, heading off into the Tardis. The Doctor opens the doors and heads out but I stay inside to keep an eye on Harry. I don’t want him to accidently hit another button and leave anyone stranded wherever we are. 

“You're a clumsy, ham fisted idiot.” The Doctor’s raised voice floats back to us inside the Tardis.

“I said I was sorry, didn't I?” Harry responds, finally getting up from his position on the floor. 

“What? Come out!” The Doctor says, his voice still irritated. Harry heads towards the doors as well, but he bumps into the wall on his way there. “And don't touch anything.” The Doctor demands. 

Harry’s face is starting to become downtrodden. “I’m only trying to open the door.” 

I pat Harry on the back, smiling at him. “Don’t mind the Doctor, he’s a grump.” 

Sarah Jane comes back out from the back hallway with the oil lamp that the Doctor asked her to find. Harry finally manages to leave the Tardis, and there’s a startled. “Oh, I say. We've gone!” as soon as he takes in his surroundings. 

Sarah shares a smile with me. “Who’s gone?” She raises her voice so Harry can hear her, walking out of the doors herself.

Shaking my head, I head out after them closing the Tardis doors behind me. 

“I mean, this isn't. We aren't where we were when. I've gone mad.” Harry looks around in bewilderment. 

“That's how I felt the first time.” Sarah shares, before looking over at the Doctor. “Where are we, Doctor?”

The Doctor glances over. “I've no idea.” 

“A little trip to the moon, you said, just to prove to Harry” Sarah says pointedly.

“I didn't expect him to start messing about with the helmic regulator.” The Doctor grouches. Harry is looking at the Tardis in awe. “Come away from there, Harry.”

“You could sell that thing, Doctor.” Harry says.

“I could what?” The Doctor asks in a distracted manner.

Harry continues to look around. I suppose this is his version of shock. “Jolly useful in Trafalgar Square. I mean, hundreds of bobbies hiding inside it.”

“Harry.” Sarah states. 

“Eh?” He responds.

Sarah gives him a look. “Stop burbling.”

“What?” Harry asks. “Oh, sorry. Shock, I suppose. I must say, I feel very strange.”

The Doctor inhales deeply. “Not much oxygen. Still, nothing to worry about.” He takes out a yo-yo and starts playing with it.

“Suffocation is nothing to worry about?” Sarah demands, starting to sound upset.

“We can survive for quite a time yet.” He informs her. 

Sarah doesn’t look comforted by that. “While you play with that yo-yo?” 

“Just a simply gravity reading, Sarah.” The Doctor responds, pocketing the yo-yo again. “Yes, almost certainly we're in some kind of artificial satellite. Now isn't that interesting?”

“Not very.” Sarah mutters. 

My eyes furrow in confusion. I don’t understand why she is being so testy with the Doctor. 

“I think it is.” The Doctor responds, throwing a look in my direction. 

Sarah pouts. “It's dark, it's cold and it's getting very airless.”

“All we have to do is get the power back on.” The Doctor says, heading over to the other side of the room. “Let's see what's over here.”

“Might as well go for a look round, I suppose.” Sarah says, looking at the both Harry and me. “Are you coming?” 

Harry leans in towards Sarah. “We'd better stick with the Doctor, don't you think?”

The Doctor must have found the light switch, because the lights take that moment to come back on. For the first time we have a good look at where we are at. It’s amazing. Looks like some sort of futuristic spaceship someone would have dreamed up in the sixties. Lots of flashy buttons and streamlined consoles. 

“Yes!” The Doctor exclaims. “That's better. Incredible.” 

Sarah blows out the oil lamp in her hands, placing in on the floor. Harry goes over towards the Doctor. “I say. What’s all this for?”

“I've never seen anything quite like it.” The Doctor admits. 

A door slides open next to Sarah and I, and we exchange a look. I shrug in response. I mean, might as well. 

“Hey, Doctor.” Sarah calls out. 

“Definitely built on Earth, but I can't quite place the period.” The Doctor is still explaining to Harry.

“Doctor, look at this.” I call over. 

The Doctor waves a hand back at me, tone distracted. “In a minute, Mabel!”

Well then. I nod my head towards the room and both Sarah and I go in.

This room has more consoles, with more shinny buttons. There is also a half-reclined table in one corner. 

There aren’t any other exits, so I turn around to go back into the main room where the Doctor and Harry still are. Only there is a slight problem. The door seems to have closed behind us.

“Sarah, we seem to have made a slight error.” I murmur softly in an attempt to not startle her. 

“Hmm?” She questions, distracted. 

Gently, I place a hand on her arm and turn her around so she can see the door. 

Sarah’s hand flies up to her mouth. “Oh no!” 

I nudge the Doctor through the connection. “It might not be that bad just yet Sarah, maybe there is a button or something over here to open the door.” Moving over to the console sticking out from the wall, I start pushing buttons. 

Nothing happens. In fact, nothing seems to be working at all. 

“It’s getting hard to breath Mabel!” Sarah exclaims, starting to panic. 

“Try to calm down.” I tell her. “The more you panic, the quicker we’ll burn through our oxygen.”

Sending another jolt down the connection, this time with more urgency, I finally get a response. Exasperation. Worry. 

Content that the Doctor is at least aware that something is wrong, I start opening up covers on the machinery around me. There is one that contains wires in it, and I try to follow them. My heartrate skyrockets as my own panic starts to increase. 

Fingers trailing along the wires, I find several that looks as if they’ve been sheared. That’s…unfortunate. And it also means that without some sort of tool, I’m not going to be able to fix this and get us out of here. A glance over my shoulder shows that Sarah is passed out over near the door. 

My vision goes wobbly, and I slump against the open panel as my body grows lightheaded from the lack of oxygen. 

Two seconds later, the door that we walked through slides open bringing with it a wave of fresh oxygen. The Doctor and Harry check on Sarah first. 

“Crikey, she’s cyanosed.” Harry says, worry evident in his tone. 

“Mind the door.” I manage to force out. 

The Doctor whirls around and hurries over to my side. Behind him I can see the door close on it’s own again. 

“I've always hated sliding doors, ever since I caught my nose in one in Pompey Barracks.” Harry mutters from across the room. 

“Are you alright?” The Doctor asks me, kneeling down and cupping my face. 

I lean into the touch, allowing myself a second to enjoy the comfort before I do my best to straighten up. “I’ll be better when we get the oxygen back into the room.” 

He nods, going to stand up but I stop him by reaching out and keeping ahold of his scarf. 

“None of the controls are working. I was poking around, trying to find out what was going on and I found this.” I jerk my head in the direction of the open panel behind me. “Someone seems to have sheared some of the wires. Fix it and I bet you fix the oxygen.”

After the speech, I’m left panting again. Now with four people in the room, the fresh oxygen is being used far faster than it was with just me and Sarah. I try to get up, so I can help or do something, but my head spins with dizziness.

“Stay down Mabel. Conserve your oxygen.” The Doctor studies the panel, pulling out the severed wires. “Oxygen valve servo-mechanism. Yellow, black, green.” He gets up and goes looking for something. 

Across the room, Harry slumps against the wall next to Sarah. “It’s all my fault.”

“It’s my fault Harry.” The Doctor reassures him, coming back over to the open panel and pulling out his sonic screwdriver. 

“I haven't got enough puff to argue with you.” Harry gasps out. 

The Doctor turns the sonic screwdriver to the wires in an attempt to repair the severed lines. “Then lie down and conserve the oxygen, while I do what I can.”

My vision goes spotty, tunneling in a strange way. Maybe it would be best if I just rested my eyes for a second….

Someone smacks my cheek lightly. I open my eyes, taking in the Doctors beaming face before me. “There you are.” 

“Did I pas out?” I ask, groggy. 

“Yes.” The Doctor tilts his head to the side. “I was able to repair the wire that led to the oxygen valve servo mechanism.” 

He offers me a hand up, steadying me when my legs take a little longer to get with the program. “Harry and Sarah?”

“Harry is fine, Sarah should be coming to soon.” The Doctor assures me. “I’m going to repair the rest of the cables. There is something odd going on here. The wires were sheared through, but I don’t think it happened with a tool. It’s almost as if they were bitten.” He frowns, a contemplative look coming to his face. 

I pat him on the arm, making his focus return to me. “You fix the cables, I’ll go over and check on Harry and Sarah. Knowing how trouble follows us I’m going to assume we’ll find out about what’s going on sooner or later.”

The Doctor rolls his eyes is response. “I never got into any trouble before you came along, so I don’t know what you mean by ‘us’.” He kneels down next to the open panel full of wires and starts putting things in order. 

“That is the boldest faced lie I’ve ever heard come out of your mouth.” I say, marveling at the words. The Doctor’s shoulders shake, amusement broadcasting to me. Kneeling down next to him for a brief second, I place a kiss to the side of his head. “Sweetheart, I think we both know who invites trouble. And the majority of the time it isn’t me.”

He smirks at me, then shoos me off to go check on Sarah and Harry. Harry looks fine, as the Doctor had said earlier, but it was concerning to me that Sarah was still unconscious. They’ve placed her on the reclined table that I noticed earlier.

“How’s she doing?” I ask Harry.

Harry smiles at me. “She should be just fine.”

I frown, running a finger along the table. “I don’t like that she hasn’t woken up yet.”

“Splendid!” The Doctor exclaims from across the room. “Now let's see if that panel works.” He stands up from the panel and goes over to console, pressing a button. The door that had closed, leaving us stuck in here finally opens. He beams over at us. “All systems go, wouldn't you say?”

Sarah makes a noise. “She's coming round.” Harry exclaims, bracing her by the shoulders. 

“Good.” The Doctor says, coming over and standing next to the table. 

“Steady. Steady on, old girl. Steady on.” Harry cautions Sarah.

“Harry.” Sarah says, voice croaky and low. 

Harry nods, holding her still. “Yes, I'm here, I'm here.”

Slowly, haltingly, Sarah makes her opinion known. “Call me old girl again and I'll spit in your eye.”

I hadn’t been sure of Sarah at first. She seemed to whine a lot. But that one sentence just cemented her firmly on the ‘I like her’ side of my feelings. I smirk over at the Doctor. He rolls his eyes at me, but smiles down at Sarah. “Welcome back, Sarah Jane.”

“Couldn't breathe.” Sarah says, face becoming upset. 

“A drop of brandy'd be the thing now.” Harry advises. 

“There's some in the Tardis.” The Doctor offers, gesturing towards the door. 

“You'll be as right as ninepence in a minute.” Harry tells Sarah. “We're going to get you some brandy, all right?”

Sarah grimaces. “Ugh, I hate brandy.”

The boys walk towards the Tardis and I follow after them, like hell am I going to let them get into trouble now. Plus I’m kind of curious as to where this stash of Brandy is. I’ve never seen any on the Tardis before. 

“Doctor, do you think you could possibly persuade her to take some?” Harry says to the Doctor. 

The Doctor doesn’t respond, pausing at the doorway. 

Some sort of infra red light fitting shaped like a saucer comes down from the middle of the ceiling in the room the Tardis is in. “I say, what's that?” Harry asks. 

“Get down!” The Doctor yells, pulling both Harry and I behind a desk. There’s a noise as though something gets blasted with a gun.

“Crikey. What was that?” Harry asks. For some reason he only has one shoe on. 

“What happened to your shoe?” I ask him. 

Harry frowns at me. “We just got shot at by something and you’re worried about my shoe?”

I’m sent a wave of exasperation from the Doctor. “Be quiet both of you.” I try to shift into a better position and the Doctor tugs me down lower. “Keep your head down.”

“Okay, okay.” I murmur, patting the hand he has on my shirt. “I’ll be careful.” 

The Doctor frowns, rummaging around in his pockets. He pulls out what look to be an antenna. Placing his hat on it, he lifts it up over the cover the desk provides. The machine fires and the Doctor’s hat bursts into fire. He pulls it down quickly, beating it against the floor to put it out. 

“We seem to be trapped.” The Doctor offers, grimacing up at the ceiling. 

“What is it?” Harry asks. 

“Some sort of automatic guard. I hadn't bargained on this when I repaired the circuits.” The Doctor responds. 

“Doctor, you said you thought the wires were bitten, not sheared. What if-“ I trail off, meeting his eyes with my own. 

His brow furrows in contemplation. “Perhaps.” 

“What about Sarah?” Harry says. “If she comes out-“

“Tell her to stay where she is.” The Doctor interrupts him, voice stern. 

“Sarah? Sarah, Can you hear me, old girl? Keep away from the door. Do you understand? Keep away from the door!” Harry yells to Sarah in the other room. 

Strangely, no one yells anything back. Not a good sign. There’s no way that Sarah could have missed all the commotion out here. 

The Doctor pokes the end of the antennae up over the desk again. Nothing happens this time. Retracting it, he hums. “Apparently it's not activated by movement unless what moves is organic.”

“Hardly helps us, does it? We're organic.” Harry grumbles.

“Not down here we're not, Harry.” The Doctor points out. 

Harry looks confused for a second before it clicks. “Oh, yes. Good piece of logical deduction, Doctor.”

I restrain the urge to facepalm. 

The Doctor stares at him for a second, then pulls out his screwdriver and starts unbolting the table to the floor. The sarcasm is strong in his voice as he responds. “Thank you.”

It takes all of thirty seconds for the bolts to be unscrewed and then we are scooting along the floor with the table as our cover. I’m squished uncomfortably between the Doctor and Harry. 

“Where are we going with it?” Harry asks, face far closer to mine than I’m strictly happy with. 

“To the far wall.” The Doctor replies. 

Harry huffs, twisting his end around carefully. 

The Doctor cranes his head, watching our progress. “One slip, Harry, and we'll be charcoal. Push on.”

“Cheery.” I mutter. 

“Psst, there it is.” The Doctor says, halting us. 

“What?” Harry asks. 

The Doctor grimaces at us. “The trouble is, we can't reach it from here.”

I raise an eyebrow. “The cutoff switch?”

Nodding, the Doctor jerks his chin up at a lever on the wall console. “The auto-guard cut-out. Look, up there, see?” He tilts his head to the side, I can feel the light bulb turn on. “Never mind. Faithful old scarf.”

Throwing his scarf up, a laser zaps it before it even gets a chance to reach the lever. The Doctor pats his scarf out with a frown. 

“Bad luck. Jolly good try, though.” Harry remarks. 

“It isn't a game of cricket, Harry.” The Doctor scolds. 

“Sorry.” Harry responds. “Mind you, if I had a cricket ball, I'd jolly soon knock that switch.”

Reaching into his pocket, the Doctor immediately pulls out what I would assume is a cricket ball. “Will this do?”

Harry takes it, polishing the ball on his jacket. “Watch this, then.” He throws it, but it meets the same fate as the Doctor’s scarf. “Organic. Of course.”

“Afraid so.” The Doctor responds. 

“Now what?” Harry asks. 

I roll my eyes. “It’s that lever, right there?” I verify. 

The Doctor narrows his eyes at me. “Yes.”

I remove my shoe, taking my sock off and then replacing my shoe afterwards. “Let’s hope it can’t shoot multiple times in a row.” Witty remark gotten out of the way, I chuck my sock towards the other side of the room and lunge for the lever. Successfully reaching the lever and yanking it down, I hear the laser discharge once, but not twice and I count my lucky stars. 

At the same time, the Doctor grabs my leg, pulling it out from under me and causing me to hit the ground hard.

I curse in response, pushing my glasses back up into position on my face. “You didn’t have to do that! I managed to get the lever in time.” 

The Doctor doesn’t respond. I look up in confusion. His furious face greets me in return and I become aware of the churning ball of emotions that are resonating through the connection. 

“What were you thinking?” He demands, eyebrows furrowed. 

Pursing my lip, I glare right back at him. “I was thinking that Sarah never responded earlier, and there was no way she didn’t hear the commotion that was going on in here. We were taking entirely too much time to disable this security feature so I took care of it.”

Harry jerks, eyes going wide in realization. “I say, you’re right!” He looks around the edge of the desk, and after a second where nothing happens, scrambles to his feet and runs off towards the side room. “Sarah! Old girl can you hear me?”

“How did you know that would work?” The Doctor asks me. 

“I didn’t.” I admit, making his expression sour even further. 

The Doctor cups the side of my face with his hand. “Mabel, you can’t do things like that.”

“Of course I can. I just did.” I say. Ignoring the way his fingers twitch against my skin, I lean back to look at him in the eyes properly. “Can you honestly look at me and say you weren’t about to do something similar?”

The Doctor shakes his head, but I can feel him becoming less angry. “That doesn’t mean you should be in a hurry to put your life in danger.”

I’m about to respond, but Harry comes running back into the room. “Sarah is gone! I can’t find her anywhere.”

I scramble to my feet with the Doctor’s help. Sometimes I really hate it when I’m right. We hurry into the side room, but like Harry stated, Sarah isn’t anywhere I can see. 

The Doctor does a circuit of the room, before coming to a stop at the table that Sarah had been lying on. He pries the cushion up and reveals a mass of circuitry. “What a fool. Of course!”

“What is it?” Harry asks.

“Why didn't I realize?” The Doctor murmurs, mostly to himself. He rushes over to the console and reads something from the display. “Short range matter transmitter. The strange thing is, it's only for internal relay.”

Harry sighs, beginning to get fed up. “Doctor, I haven't the foggiest notion what you're on about.”

“Never mind. It just means that Sarah can't be far away. All we've got to do is find her. Come on!” The Doctor says to us, leading the way out of the room. 

Harry and I exchange glances, before Harry shrugs and follows after the Doctor. I look over at the table, and then over at the panel that housed the bitten wires. Something odd was going on here, and the other two kept getting distracted. I was worried about Sarah too, but I was going to keep my out for anything else suspicious. 

“Mabel!” The Doctor calls from outside the room. “Don’t wander off now.”

I roll my eyes again. I feel as though once this day is over, I’m going to have the strongest eyes this side of the galaxy. Stepping into the other room, I head for the still open doorway. “How many times do I have to tell you Doctor. I’m not the one who wanders off, it’s always you. And then you scold me for doing it as if you weren’t the one who actually walked off in the first place.” 

The Doctor sticks his tongue out at me, waiting till I’m close enough and then putting a hand in the small of my back to direct me down the hallway. “I think we’ll try this way first.” He says to Harry, heading down the left corridor. 

It’s actually very pretty here. The corridor we are in has windows showing off the stars, and inky blackness of space.

We walk in silence for a little over a minute. There’s a door up ahead that reads ‘Area Q.’. As soon as we get close enough, a voice shouts out a warning. “This is a sterile area! Keep out!”

“Just like a hospital.” Harry muses after recovering from the shock.

Stepping closer to the door, the Doctor drops his hand from my back. He presses a button which causes the door to slide up. Beaming over at us, the Doctor jerks his head towards the open door. 

Harry takes half a step forward and then pauses. “Well, ought we, do you think?”

“Don't be nervous, Harry.” The Doctor advises. 

Taking a breath, Harry nods, walking forwards. Ahead of us, I catch of quick glimpse of something green out of the corner of my eye. Turning my head to look, it quickly skitters out of view. 

Harry abruptly stops. 

“What is it Harry?” The Doctor asks. 

“I saw something moving.” Harry tells the Doctor. I come up next to him, frowning. 

The Doctor turns away, distracted. “Nonsense, Harry.”

“No. Not nonsense.” I state. “I saw it too. Something green. I only caught it out of the corner of my eye. When I turned to look at it properly it skittered away.”

Turning to study us, The Doctor raises an eyebrow. “Green, you say?” 

Harry walks forward, pointing at the ground. “Green like that.”

The Doctor and I follow. Harry is pointing at a trail of what looks to be slime that’s on the ground, it’s heading into a grate. 

“It's like the trail left by a gastropod mollusk.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“A Slug?” Harry asks.

The Doctor shrugs. “Or a snail.”

Scoffing, Harry reaches out and touches the grate. “That size? Impossible. It couldn't have got through this grille.”

“Very interesting. A multinucleate organism?” The Doctor muses. 

Very interesting indeed. These facts are all adding up. But for now, our focus should stay on what’s important. “How about we go find Sarah before we get distracted again. We can explore the slug/snail thing later.”

“Right.” The Doctor says, standing up. We walk a few more steps down the corridor and come across a junction. “This looks promising.”

Everything is bathed in a yellow light. A sign on the wall informs us that you need a badge to enter. Once everyone is inside, the Doctor closes the door behind us and we are left cramped together once again. 

Harry shifts. “She's obviously not in here.”

“Decontamination chamber.” The Doctor explains. “Might make you feel a bit dizzy.”

The Doctor appears to be fine and so do I, but Harry cringes. His hand comes up to brace his head. The lights return to normal, no longer yellow, and the other door opens. 

The Doctor walk forward, but I stay back with Harry. “You alright?” I ask him. 

“Yes, yes. I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” Harry insists, attempting to smile. 

Oh Harry. I nod, accepting his words. I know they aren’t true but I also know the feeling of wanting others to think that everything is fine. 

The room we step into is different from all the other rooms we’ve been in before. It does have a console, but there is also a bed recessed into the wall behind said console. On the opposite wall there are numbered boxes. 

“I think we're getting warm.” The Doctor states, walking over to the door that’s labeled Animal and Botanic. He looks into the window for a second. “Of course! That explains everything. Do you realize what this is?” The Doctor turns and looks at us, beaming. He also seems to note that Harry still isn’t feeling well from the decontamination room. “Aren't you feeling better?”

“No, I'm not.” Harry admits. 

“Then pull yourself together, man.” The Doctor scolds, turning back to the window. “This is fascinating! This is a cryogenic repository.”

I walk over to join the Doctor at the window and pinch him in the side.

The Doctor jerks, sending me a look of betrayal. “What was that for?”

Glancing over my shoulder, I lower my voice. “For forgetting that people have limits and can’t just power through everything like you can.” 

The Doctor flicks his eyes over at Harry, furrow starting to form between his eyebrows. Nodding, He sends me his understanding.

“Repository?” Harry asks after the long pause. “For what?”

“Everything. Well, everything they considered worth preserving.” The Doctor crosses over to the opposite wall where the boxes are. He hits a button on the wall and a box slides out of the wall. “Look at this.”

I pick up a small slide from inside the box, probably about an inch across and an inch wide, and bring it up to look through it. It looks like it’s an early 16th century painting. “So cool.”

“Microfilm. It's a complete record. Music, history, architecture, literature, engineering.” The Doctor explains to Harry. “Incredible. The entire body of human thought and achievement.”

“Yes, but what's it all for?” Harry asks. 

The Doctor shrugs. “Posterity? I don't know. Why build all this and send it into space?”

I place the slide I’d picked up back into the box and close it up. 

Harry frowns down at the ground. “I say, couldn't be some sort of survival kit, could it?”

“Survival?” The Doctor asks, pausing his pacing. 

“Yes, you know, the sort of thing they shove in lifeboats and things.” Harry elaborates, shrugging. 

The Doctor clasps a hand to Harrys shoulder and beams. “You're improving, Harry.”

Harry smiles, looking pleased. “Am I really?”

“Yes, your mind is beginning to work. It's entirely due my influence, of course. You mustn't take any credit.” The Doctor states, walking back over to the console. “Now, what's missing?”

I roll my eyes. One step forward, two steps back.

“Missing?” Harry asks. 

“Yes. If we are to assume that some great cataclysm struck Earth, and that before the end they launched this lifeboat, then the one obvious missing element is man himself.” The Doctor explains. “What's happened to the human species, Harry?” 

Before Harry get a chance to respond, a door opens up behind us. “Y’know.” I murmur to the Doctor. “All these doors opening up and taking us where we need to go is convenient, but I’m really starting to get suspicious about it.”

“Yes, I am too.” The Doctor responds, heading towards the open doors. 

“I say.” Harry exclaims, taking a look at the inside of the room that we’ve walked into. “What a place for a mortuary.”

I don’t think it’s actually a mortuary, but he’s not wrong in thinking it looks like one. There are human shaped containers lining the walls, several stacks on top of each other. 

“This isn't a mortuary, Harry. Quite the reverse.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“Reverse?” Harry scoffs, not understanding what the Doctor is trying to say. “I'd hardly call it a nursery.”

“Not a nursery, Harry. It’s an Ark.” I explain, looking around me in awe. 

“Cryogenic chamber.” The Doctor elaborates. “Old principle, but I've never seen it applied on this scale. Look at them.”

“There must be hundreds of them.” I say, reaching out and catching the Doctor’s hand. He links our fingers together, sending me a burst of affection. 

“Well, when you've seen one corpse, you've seen them all.” Harry mutters, frowning. 

“Corpse?” The Doctor frowns back at Harry. “These people aren't dead, Harry, they're asleep. The entire human race awaiting the trumpet blast.”

Harry opens a pod up and peers at the person inside. “Dead as a doorknocker.”

Shaking my head, I tug the Doctor into the other room. It has more people lined up along the walls. 

“Homo sapiens. What an inventive, invincible species.” The Doctor muses. “It's only a few million years since they've crawled up out of the mud and learned to walk. Puny, defenseless bipeds. They've survived flood, famine and plague. They've survived cosmic wars and holocausts, and now here they are amongst the stars, waiting to begin a new life, ready to out sit eternity. They're indomitable. Indomitable!” He flails his arm out, gesturing at the people around us. 

Do you ever get those movements where you are 100 percent unequivocally reminded why you’ve chosen to do something? Looking at the Doctor as he started talking about the human race, as he marveled at what they’ve accomplished, it reminded me of something. It reminded me why I fell for him in the first place. 

The Doctor has a smirk playing along his lips as he glances over to me. “You’ve got that face on dear.” 

“What face?” I ask, lips trying to twitch into a smile. 

“The face you get when you’re thinking about me.” He responds, playful. 

I raise an eyebrow. “This is my normal face.” 

Tapping me on the nose with a finger, his smirk gentles into a smile. “I know.”

I flush, even though I try my hardest not to. When we were teasing I was just fine, but then he had to go and make it serious. 

The Doctor hums, seeming pleased with himself. “It’s a rare treat to see you so flustered.” 

“Yeah, well it’s not so rare in the future.” I grumble, hunching so that my hair falls in front of my face. “You’re always trying to make me blush one way or another.” 

He laughs, placing a hand on my back and directing me back into the room that Harry was in. “Mabel, I don’t think there will be a day where I ever stop trying to make you blush.”

“Don’t I know that.” I respond, huffing. We clear the thin corridor between the rooms to find Harry looking into the eyes of a person in one of the capsules. “What are you doing, Harry?”

“Not a flicker of life.” Harry states. 

“Suspended animation.” The Doctor explains. 

“There are no metabolic functions at all.” Harry gestures at the person who he’d been examining. “I mean, look at him. Now, even in the deepest coma, the hair and fingernails continue to grow. The epidermis-“

The Doctor cuts him off, closing the cover to the capsule. “Total suspension, Harry.” Harry frowns at the Doctor. “You can't survive ten thousand years in a coma.” The Doctor explains.

“Ten thousand years?” Harrys asks, off put. 

“Fifty thousand years, a hundred thousand. Time is immaterial.” The Doctor elaborates. “It's an amazing sight, isn't it? The entire human race in one room. All colors, all creeds. All differences finally forgotten.”

Bewildered, Harry gestures at the people in their capsules. “Doctor, are you serious? The entire human race?”

“Well, it's chosen descendants. The operation must have been meticulously planned.” The Doctor muses, before turning and walking towards the exit. “Come on.”

“Where are we going now?” Harry asks, testy. 

The Doctor pauses, turning back to Harry. “First to find Sarah, then we're going to shut down the systems. We're intruders here, you know.”

“Just a minute, Doctor.” Shaking his head, Harry looks around again. “Are you trying to tell that this is where it's all going to end? In here?”

“Not end, Harry, just a pause.” The Doctor responds. 

“But there's only a few hundred corpses, er, bodies in here. I mean, what's happened to the rest of humanity? Some global catastrophe?” Harry asks, trying to understand. 

“Yes, and they saw it coming, and made provision for it as best they could. Don't forget, it's something for you to be proud of.” The Doctor insists. 

“As much as I’m enjoying this conversation, I think we have bigger things to worry about right now.” I tell them both, pointing at a vent in the corner of the room. It has a trail of green slime coming from it just like we saw in the corridor, it’s leading straight to a capsule. 

The Doctor and Harry go over and kneel down next to it. 

“Oxygen? Radiant heat? But this deep in space? I wonder.” The Doctor contemplates. You can practically see his neurons firing as he tries to put the pieces together.

“Perhaps it's some kind of mold.” Harry suggests.

“Mold?” I ask. 

“And that trail we saw in the corridor.” Harry adds. 

“And that thing you both saw moving in the corridor.” The Doctor chimes in, not buying it. 

“Dust.” Harry states. “That, er, grille thing was a dust extractor. And then we opened the door after umpteen years and caused a bit of a draft.”

“Hmm. Very convincing.” The Doctor says, tone saying the opposite. “All the same, I think we'll just check a few of the beds while we're here.”

Harry sighs. “And what are we checking for, exactly?”

“Just to make sure that everything's in order.” The Doctor says softly, distracted as he starts checking capsules. 

“Right-o.” Harry murmurs, starting at one side of the room. 

I start checking the capsules closer to the door. This whole situation is giving me the hebbie jeebies, and I wouldn’t be sad when we found Sarah and got the hell out of here. 

“Doctor, Mabel!” Harry calls out, his voice urgent. 

I turn and rush over, the Doctor not far behind me. We round the open capsule that Harry is in front of, and I come to a stop, the Doctor pausing before he bumps into me. “Sarah! Oh, Sarah Jane.” He murmurs. 

“We can't help her now.” Harry states, looking upset. 

“No. She'll be like that for three thousand years at least.” The Doctor agrees. “Even if we had a resuscitation unit, it's doubtful that we could revive her now.”

“There must be something we can do.” Harry insists, expression becoming determined. “What's would a resuscitation unit look like?”

Keeping an ear out, I start looking around, just as Harry is doing. There are closets that are labeled medical, probably a good idea to start looking through those. 

“Very like an oxygen cylinder.” The Doctor tells us, still over by Sarah. “You'll recognize it if there is one.”

Harry opens one closet, and I open the other. I shriek, it’s an involuntary reaction. You would too if a giant 7 foot tall bug falls out of a closet right in front of you. 

A second passes, the Doctor materializes behind me and places a hand on my shoulder. 

“Sorry, Sorry. It startled me, that’s all.” I reassure them. 

Harry kneels down next to the creature. “Well, it's dead, anyway.”

“Very dead.” The Doctor confirms. “Almost mummified.”

“What is it?” Harry asks. 

“That's something we can leave till later. No sign of the resuscitation tank?” The Doctor responds, getting up and rummaging around in the closet. 

“No, I didn’t find anything, but that was the first place I looked.” I say, Harry echoing something similar. 

Emerging with an orange box, the Doctor opens it. “Emergency medical kit, wouldn't you say?”

Harry looks at the equipment, picking up something that looks like a ball. “A bit beyond me, I'm afraid.”

The Doctor looks frustrated. “There must be something there that would help Sarah, but what?” He closes the medical kit and walks back towards Sarah’s open capsule.

“Doctor, look.” Harry says, gesturing to a capsule across the room. There are lights on underneath it. 

“Of course!” The Doctor exclaims. “They don't need a tank. The resuscitation phase is programmed in.”

I walk over and open the cover. There is a woman inside. “I think she’s starting to breath.”

Harry studies her a couple of seconds. “Yes, I think she is.”

“No doubt about it.” The Doctor agrees. 

“That means there's hope for Sarah.” Harry exclaims. “Yes, look, she's moving.”

The woman holds out her arms, it looks like she’s asking for something. 

Harry takes the box off of the Doctor, opening it and offering it to the woman. “Something you want?” 

With shaky arms, the woman takes the same ball the Harry had picked up earlier and inserts in into the end of a star-ended spray gun. 

“Hey, look, can't I do that for you?” Harry offers. The woman doesn’t respond, just continues doing what she is doing. “Independent sort of bird, isn't she.”

The woman turns the gun so it’s turned towards her chest and injects something. Whatever it is, it causes her whole body to convulse. Harry lunges forward to help her, but the Doctor and I hold him back.

“Leave her, Harry.” The Doctor advises. 

“Yes, but she's-“ Harry starts, looking concerned. 

The Doctor cuts him off. “There's nothing you can do. She knows what she's doing.”

Body finished with it’s convulsions, the women slumps back into the capsule for a second. Then her eyes open and she attempts to step down from the capsule. Like the gentleman he is, the Doctor helps her with a hand on her arm. The woman looks around, but she does so in a way that makes it seem like she’s not quite all there. 

Turning in a circle, the look of happiness on her face slides away as she seems to finally notice us. “Oh! Explain yourselves.”

The Doctor shifts uncomfortably. “Well, there isn't very much to explain. We're just travelers in space like yourself.”

“That is not adequate.” The woman replies. 

“My name's Sullivan.” Harry steps forward. “Surgeon Lieutenant Harry Sullivan, actually. And, er, this is the Doctor, and Mabel.”

I wave, the woman doesn’t look impressed. “You claim to be med-techs?”

“My doctorate is purely honorary, and Harry here is only qualified to work on sailors.” The Doctor clarifies. 

“My name is Vira.” The woman tells us. “I am a first med-tech.”

“Well, I'm delighted to hear it.” The Doctor says, turning and grabbing a small medical box that’s on wheels. He rolls it over to Sarah’s capsule. “You see, we happen to be in rather desperate need of medical help.”

“This female is a stranger.” Vira comments. 

“She's a friend of ours. She got caught in the machinery.” Harry explains. 

Vira appears confused, still looking at Sarah. “She was not among the chosen.”

Harry moves to set down the medical kit he’s still holding. “Well, she's among the chosen now, isn't she?”

I step in, because it seems as if Harry is going to do is make things worse at this juncture. We need this woman to help us, not get mad and throw us off the space shuttle. “Is there any way we can wake her up?”

“That can be dangerous.” Vira tells me, contemplative. “How long since she underwent tissue irradiation?”

“Can't be more than an hour, can it, Doctor?” Harry comments. “We haven't been here more than an hour altogether.”

Pulling something that looks like a circlet from a compartment on the box the Doctor wheeled over, Vira places it on Sarah’s head. “Receding neural activity.”

“Is there anything you can do for her?” Harry asks, concern for Sarah evident in his voice.

Vira removes the circlet, looking at Harry in a strange way. “Is she of value?”

“Of value?” Harry is taken aback. “She's a human being like ourselves! What sort of question's that?”

“The answer to that question is yes.” I elaborate, surreptitiously reaching out and delivering a harsh tug to the back of Harry’s jacket. 

Harry turns to look at me, and I shake my head minutely. 

Eyebrow raised, Vira looks at the Doctor and I. “Your comrade is a romantic.” 

Stepping forward, the Doctor looks uncharacteristically solemn. “Perhaps we both are.” 

“I will inject a monod block.” Vira states, preparing the star-ended spray gun with what I would assume is a monod block. 

“Ah, that'll do the trick, eh?” Harry says, words filled with hope. 

Vira pauses, turning to Harry in confusion. “Your colony speech has no meaning.”

“Er.” Harry frowns. “I mean it's bring her round, reverse the process.”

Taking Sarah’s arm, Vira injects her with the monod block. She turns back to Harry with a placid look on her face. “She will either survive or die. The action of the antiprotonic is not predictable.”

“I see.” The Doctor muses. “You've changed her body into a battlefield.”

“Battlefield?” Vira shakes her head. She prepares a different circlet that she places on Sarah’s head, replacing the other one. “I high point in classicals, but you dawn-timers have a language all of your own.”

“We do seem to have a small communications problem.” The Doctor leans in and murmurs in my ear. 

I can’t resist shooting him a brief smile in response. 

“I wish there was something I could do.” Harry’s frustration is evident. 

“It is done.” Vira states. “There is nothing further. As she revives, her electrical field will draw power from the bionosphere.” She takes her rolling medical box over to another capsule. Actually she takes it over to the capsule that had been next to the one she had been placed in. “Here is our prime unit.” She tells us, opening the capsule door and showing us the man inside. For the first time since she’s woken up her voice portrays something other than ambivalence. 

Harry takes a few steps closer to Vira. “Prime unit?”

Vira pauses. “Er, our leader, I think you would say. Noah.”

“Noah?” Harry laughs. “Oh, I see. As in Noah's Ark, eh?”

“It is a name from mythology.” Vira states, turning her gaze from Harry and putting it on Noah. She places the first circlet she had used on Sarah on him. Stroking his face, her voice shows the depth of her affection for the man in front of her. “His real name is Lazar, but we called him Noah as an amusement.”

“Er, joke?” Harry offers. 

I look at the Doctor, in sort of a ‘is this guy for real’ kind of way. The Doctor shrugs. He mouths ‘his first trip’ back at me. Sighing soundlessly, I rock back on my heels. 

“Joke?” Vira asks after a, long pause. “Oh, yes. There was not much joke in the last days.”

“What happened in the last days, Vira?” The Doctor asks, stepping forward.

Vira frowns at the Doctor. “Your colony has no records, no history? Where are you from?”

“London, actually. England. The Earth.” Harry tells her.

“That is not possible.” Vira states. “The Earth is dead.”

The Doctor tugs on his ear. “I'm afraid you're probably wrong about that.”

“The solar flares destroyed all life on Earth.” Vira insists. 

“Ah. Solar flares. I see.” The Doctor murmurs. 

Vira tilts her head back, almost cutting the Doctor off she speaks so quickly after he does. “Our scientists calculated it would be five thousand years before the biosphere became viable again.”

“Oh, the absolute minimum, I'd say.” The Doctor tells her, his voice gentle but firm. “But I'm afraid I've something of a shock for you, Vira.”

“Shock?” She asks, looking confused. 

“You've overslept by several thousand years. You see, when we came here, we found a massive systems failure.” The Doctor explains. 

Vira frowns. “The systems have no capacity for failure.”

“There’s no such thing as an unsinkable ship.” I murmur. 

“Not by itself.” The Doctor adds. “But a long time ago, when you were dormant, you had a visitor. Come, I'll show it to you.” He gestures to the medical hallway where the creature had fallen out of the closet. 

Vira walks over. I can tell when she catches sight of the creature, because she abruptly pauses. “Is it from space? How did it get here?”

The Doctor kneels next to it again, reaching out to touch one of it’s pincers. “I don't know yet. But observe the size of the brain pan. It had a purpose in coming here, and once inside, it severed most of the satellite's control systems, including your alarm clock, so to speak.”

Vira looks upset, before she shakes her head and schools her features. “I need to check on the others.” 

I nod, moving aside so she can do what she needs to do. 

“I’ll check on Sarah.” Harry murmurs, leaving me alone with the Doctor and the mummified bug. 

The Doctor sits back on his heels. “Nothing else left to do but wait for Sarah to wake up I suppose.” 

“Yeah.” I murmur, sitting down next to the wall and watching him. 

He shifts, moving over so he’s sitting next to me. “Why are you staring?”

I shrug. “Maybe I just want to take in your new body. This is the first time I’ve gotten a chance to after all.” 

The Doctor studies me. I can feel him poking around the connection, trying to see if I’m telling the truth. I am, so I just raise an eyebrow in response. He flushes, just slightly. I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t been watching him so closely. 

“I have to say I’m liking the curls.” I tell him, pushing my sincerity towards him. 

He smiles, finger reaching out and tracing down my nose. “You don’t have to flatter an old man.” 

I lean my head against his shoulder. Exhaustion is pressing down on me. It’s been several days since I’ve been able to sleep and I’m starting to feel the strain. I have to praise my body though, now that my system has been reset I’ve definitely felt different. There would have been no way I could have gone so long without sleep before, but as it stood, I hadn’t even started feeling tired until Christmas. Even now, though the exhaustion is strong, I could probably push it for another day or two. 

“It’s not flattery if it’s true.” I murmur. “I have this weird half wave in my hair, and curls have always been something that I wanted to have myself.”

The Doctor shifts, reaching out and linking our hands. “You’re exhausted.”

“Yeah, it’s been nothing but jumping from one place to another and I haven’t really got a chance to stop yet.” I explain. Stifling a yawn, I rub at the moisture welling up in my eyes. 

“Still no change.” Harry informs us, walking over to where we are sitting on the floor.

“No. For once in my life I feel surplus to requirements.” That Doctor comments.

“Doctor?” Vira calls out. 

He perks up in response. “What is it?”

Looking worried, Vira checks a panel next to the capsule Noah is in again. “There's a technical fault in the bionosphere.”

Pulling me up by our linked hands, The Doctor hurries over to check the panel himself. Several seconds pass, and he hums in response. “I don't think the fault's at this end. It's in the main power supply.”

“It must be corrected.” Vira insists. “If his heart stops now, there's nothing I can do.”

“Don't worry.” The Doctor reassures her. “I noticed the Ark has a secondary power supply. Harry, you stay here and keep an eye on things.” 

“Right-o.” Harry answers. 

I follow the Doctor as he takes off, ending up back in the little offshoot of a console room where we almost suffocated. 

He works quickly, pressing buttons and flipping levers. I’m left I the corner, fidgeting. “Is there anything I can do to help?” 

“You can turn on the secondary CPU for the auxiliary power unit.” The Doctor tells me, distracted as he does his own work. 

I move to do that, the only problem is that none of the buttons are labeled. “Yeah, which one is that one?”

The Doctor sighs, reaching over and pressing a large button right in front of me. I can feel his frustration bleed over to me. 

A noise starts up, probably the auxiliary power unit kicking in. The Doctor activates an intercom system, which I only know because he starts talking into it. “Harry?”

‘I say, that was quick.’ Harry’s voice comes from the small grill, getting louder as though he’s walking closer to the source on his side. “Doctor? Doctor, where are you?”

“In the control room.” The Doctor explains. “Have you got the power back on in there?”

‘Yes, we have. Everything's ship-shape now.’ Harry responds. 

“Splendid. The fault seems to be in the main solar stack. I'm just going to take a look.” The Doctor informs Harry. 

‘Right-o.’ Harry says, hesitating. ‘I say, Doctor, don't be long, will you.’

The Doctor turns to me, annoyance still on his face. “Stay here, it’ll be faster if I go by myself.”

Still feeling raw from the burst of frustration I felt from him earlier, I just nod in response. The Doctor leaves the room, walking with a purpose. 

That was unexpected. I’ve never had the Doctor push any kind of annoyance or frustration towards me like that before. It really took me off guard. Maybe this had been what the Doctor had apologized about earlier? I really doubt it, which meant that more was to come. 

Before I can get any deeper into my introspection, the Doctor comes hurrying in. “We must shut down the main stacks, immediately.”

“Okay.” I reply, eager to help. “Tell me what I need to press.” 

The Doctor makes a noise of frustration. “Nevermind, I’ll do it myself.” 

“I can help, I just don’t know how to turn it off.” I frown at him.

“That’s the real issue here. How come you don’t know how to work these systems? I know for a fact they teach the basics in the Academy.” The Doctor asks me, narrowing his eyes. His hands fly over the controls as he talks. 

“I went to school, thank you very much.” I reply, taken aback by his assumption. “But they never taught me anything like this.” 

“Considering I had to take it twice, I’m fairly certain they did.” He responds, testily. 

“They really didn’t.” I tell him. 

The Doctor shakes his head, muttering something under his breath. Well I’m sure he meant it to be under his breath, but I still heard it anyways. Which meant he probably intended for me to hear it. ‘Useless.’ 

My cheeks flush with a combination of anger and hurt. I surreptitiously close my end of the connection, I have no intention of allowing the Doctor to feel how much that just stung. Opening my mouth to argue, the Doctor cuts me off by talking before I can. “Ah, there you are. Awake at last.”

I’m confused, until I hear the shuffle of a step from the doorway. “Move away.” A man orders. 

“I'm just shutting down the power in the main stack.” The Doctor responds, not bothering to turn around. 

I turn to look, just in time to see the man raise a gun and point it in the Doctor’s direction. I also get a good look at just who it is. It’s Noah. “Touch that switch and I'll atomise you.”

Taking a step forward, I don’t even blink when the gun focuses on me. “Noah, I think there must have been some kind of miscommunication. We aren’t here to harm you.”

“Earth is ours.” Noah proclaims. 

I can feel the Doctor step up behind me. “My dear man, if you think for one moment we're laying claim to Earth, you couldn't be more mistaken. We're here to help you.”

Noah shakes his head in disbelief. “By deactivating the main solar stack?”

“Precisely.” The Doctor confirms. He goes to take a step around me, but I shift minutely so that the gun is still pointed at me. The Doctor is far more valuable in this situation than I am. “There's something trapped in the stack, Noah, but at the rate its absorbing energy it won't be trapped for long. The stack must be shut down. Well, if you'd been down there with me, Noah, you-“

Noah fires his gun, and that’s the last thing I hear. 

~

Something lightly taps my cheek and I start awake. “Sonova bitch shot me!” 

“My word.” Harry exclaims. I can hear Sarah giggling in the background. 

“The Doctor!” I sit up abruptly, regretting it as a fierce headache starts up between my eyes. 

Harry places a hand on my shoulder, helping to brace me as I sway. “Calm down, Calm down. The Doctor is right here, probably hit by the same thing you were hit with.” 

From next to me the Doctor shoots up. “-hot her!” 

“Oh Doctor!” Sarah cries. 

“Ah, Sarah, you're back. Splendid. Where's Noah?” The Doctor attempts to get up, but he stumbles. Probably the same band that’s dancing inside my head is now dancing in his as well. “Shot me, did he? Cut off in mid sentence, Mabel!”

“Calm down Doctor.” Sarah attempts to reason with him 

The Doctor doesn’t listen, whirling around. The tension leaves his body as I come into view. I reach out a hand and he uses it to pull me up, immediately putting his arms around me in a hug. “I thought that it was an actual vaporization gun at first. When he fired-“ His words are low, for my ears only. 

My frustration at him fades away. He sounds so upset at the thought of me being hurt, of me being dead, that I don’t have the heart to stay mad at him. “I’m fine, no harm done. Except this pounding headache.”

His body slowly stiffens. “You.” The Doctor demands. “You will never put yourself in front of a gun for me again.”

“And in that, we will have to agree to disagree.” I state, pulling back and adjusting his scarf. He’s scowling bloody murder but I don’t pay him any mind. “You were more important in that situation than I was, so I acted accordingly.” 

The Doctor shakes his head, then brings his hand up to his temple in response. 

“Are you all right, Doctor?” Sarah asks, hovering at his elbow. 

“What?” The Doctor asks, looking down at her. “Blinding headache, that's all. I hate stun guns.” He shoots me a look that clearly states he’s unhappy with my response, and that we will probably be having words later. To the room at large, he asks a question. “Noah. Where is he?”

“We overheard him on the intercom thing saying something about checking the solar stacks.” Harry offers. 

“What?” The Doctor demands. “The idiot. Quick, there might be still time.” He heads towards the door, even though he’s still very obviously in pain.

Harry pauses. “Are you both sure you’re alright?” 

“Never mind about us, Harry, there's a man in danger.” The Doctor scolds, finally stepping from the room. Sarah follows him, but Harry stays with me.

“You heard him, Harry.” I gesture towards the door, making my way towards it. 

Harry follows me, stubborn. “I’m not leaving you alone.”

I laugh, even though it causes a spike of pain. “It’s just a headache. I won’t die from it.” I peek at him from the corner of my eye. “Thanks though.”

“I’m just doing what any gentleman would do.” Harry replies. “No thanks are necessary.” 

How very British. I bite back a smile. 

It doesn’t take us long to catch up with the Doctor and Sarah, they haven’t gotten very far down the corridor. Also, it seems as though no one else has been sent to detain us. Which is strange. If the way Noah approached us was any indication, then we were very much not welcome here. 

“Strange how they've given us the run of the ship.” Harry comments. “Why doesn't Vira try and stop us?”

“Not her function, Harry.” The Doctor replies.

Harry’s face screws up in confusion. “How do you mean?”

“By the thirtieth century, human society was highly compartmentalized.” The Doctor explains. “Vira is a med-tech, and I suspect we're an executive problem.”

Harry probably would have responded, but Noah takes that moment to step out in front of us. 

“Right, Doctor. But not a difficult on. You can easily be eliminated.” Noah postures.

“Unlike the thing you saw in the solar stack, eh, Noah?” The Doctor states more than asks, his tone is knowing.

Noah raises an eyebrow. “I saw a pathetic attempt at sabotage. The observation port is damaged.”

The Doctor sighs. “Then it's escaped. We're too late.”

“What's escaped?” Sarah asks. 

“Turn about.” Noah orders, gesturing with his gun. “We will return to the cryogenic section.”

“You're absolutely right.” The Doctor states. “There's no time to lose. Come on.”

So we turn around, and head back towards the cryogenic room. Once we get there, Noah puts us into a corner and seems to dismiss us. The Doctor starts pacing, eyes flickering rapidly from the grate, to the capsules, to the people. It’s clear he’s coming up with a plan. 

In the meantime, Vira is in the process of waking another person up. It’s another male. 

He gasps, looking down and seeing Vira. “Vira.”

“Welcome.’ Vira tells him, a small smile on her face. 

“Welcome, Libri” Noah states, stepping towards him. 

Libri’s face immediately contorts in fear. “Keep back. Keep back!”

Noah pauses, looking to Vira in confusion. “What's the matter with him?”

“Keep back!” Libri yells again.

“Is it his mind?” Noah continues to question Vira. 

Vira looks bewildered. “No, his reactions were normal. Libri”

Libri shakes his head. “Keep away!”

“This is Noah. You remember Commander Noah?” Vira asks, voice gentle. 

Libri takes a couple of deep breaths. The panic slowly recedes from his face. “I'm sorry. I saw something standing there.”

“What was it you saw, Libri?” The Doctor asks, leaning forward in interest. 

“Silence!” Noah demands. “You're here to answer questions, not ask them.”

“It was horrible.” Libri murmurs. “A shape. I'm sorry. I'm all right now.”

“Temporary neuro-ocular confusion.” Vira states, with all the assertion of a person who has no idea what just happened. 

“The process is much too slow. They're not going to make it.” The Doctor states. 

“No further warnings.” Noah informs us.

“Yes, you'd shoot too, wouldn't you.” Harry says with contempt. “Nice fellow.”

“Libri, keep these three under guard.” Noah tells Libri, handing him the gun. “Kill them if they give any trouble.”

“Yes sir.” Libri responds, swinging the gun around to point at us. 

“Noah, where are you going?” Vira asks. 

Noah had been in the process of walking out, but he pauses at her voice. “The system must be shut down.”

Vira frowns. “What?”

“The revivification must be stopped.” Noah responds. 

I exchange a look with the Doctor. This is getting strange. 

“Why?” Vira asks. “I don't understand.”

“It is an order.” Noah states, standing up straighter. “I am the commander.”

“But the first phase isn't completed, and we need the technical crew, Noah, to operate the station.” Vira tries to reason with him.

Noah seems to struggle with himself. His face becomes pained. “Yes. No! No, the plan is changed. Hear me, hear me, the plan is changed.” 

Vira frowns, starting to look upset. “Noah, what is it? Is it something to do with Dune?”

“Dune?” Noah asks, face calming. 

“Technician Dune. I reported him missing.” Vira elaborates. 

“But I'm here.” Noah states. “I am Dune.”

Vira pauses, taken aback. “What?”

“The system must be shut down. No more aliens!” Noah shouts, rushing from the room. 

“Noah, come back!” Vira calls after him, but he doesn’t listen. 

“He must be stopped.” The Doctor insists, body tensed like he is about to run after Noah, gun be damned. 

“Something has happened to his mind.” Vira rationalizes. “There was a power fault during his revival.”

The Doctor frowns at Libri. “Get after him, man.”

Libri hesitates. “No, no, he gave me an order.”

“Don't be an imbecile.” The Doctor scolds. “Tell him, Vira.“

Vira shakes her head. “There is no procedure for stopping the revivification program. It could be damaging, Libri.”

“But he is our commander.” Libri states, as though that’s all the matters. 

I shake my head in response. “I’m not entirely sure he is anymore.”

“What?” Libri frowns. 

The Doctor picks up the string of the conversation. “When you first saw him, you had a subconscious impression, you said, of something horrible. That wasn't Noah, was it?”

Libri hesitates, lowering his head in shame. “No.”

“Believe me, he must be stopped.” The Doctor insists again. 

Libri looks over at Vira. She nods in response, and Libri leaves the room to go after Noah. 

Looking at us, Vira raises an eyebrow. “It's not advisable for you to try and escape.”

“You take some convincing that we're on your side, don't you.” The Doctor muses. “Now, what's all this about a missing technician?”

“Pallet three. I found it empty.” Vira explains. 

“Noah thinks that we're to blame.” Sarah chimes in. 

Harry shrugs, not looking concerned. “Chap's jumped ship, that's all. Happens all the time.” 

“Oh, come on.” Sarah scolds him. “A space satellite's a bit different from a ship, Harry.”

“You know, Sarah, I bet you there's the equivalent of a dinghy missing.” Harry comments. I swear they are about two seconds away from sticking their tongues out at each other. 

The Doctor shakes his head, stepping closer to the capsule that Vira indicated. He takes out the antenna from earlier and uses it to pick up some sort of green goop from the bottom of the capsule. “It's not quite empty.”

Vira takes a closer look, expression disgusted. “Oh, what's that?”

“Membrane.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“Membrane?” Sarah asks. 

The Doctor nods. “Part of the eggshell.”

Nauseous, I close my eyes for a second. “I read a book like this a long time ago. People were cryogenically frozen. They drifted for god knows how long. By the time someone actually woke up, most of the people had been killed. It was these worms. They burrowed into the flesh and ate the people who were sleeping, alive.”

Sarah gasps, hand flying up to her mouth. Harry and Vira both look disgusted as well. Only the Doctor looks unaffected. 

“Not quite worms this time, but something similar I would think.” He comments, turning and gesturing at the creature that had fallen out of the closet. “The egg tube was empty.”

Vira frowns. “That thing?”

“The progenitor. The queen colonizer.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“I don't understand.” Sarah says with frustration. 

The Doctor pauses, thinking. “Ever heard of the Eumenes?”

“Eumenes? One of our frigates.” Harry offers. 

“It's a genus of wasps that paralyses caterpillars and lays its eggs in their bodies.” The Doctor continues, ignoring Harry’s contribution. “When the larvae emerge, they have a ready made food supply. Strange how the same life patterns reoccur throughout the universe.”

Harry grimaces, taking a step back. “Doctor, are you saying that that slug thing?”

“Ciliated larvae, Harry. Dune was power systems technician, I imagine.” The Doctor says, solemn. 

Vira narrows her eyes at him. “Yes, but how did you know?”

The Doctor fixes his eyes on Vira. “It, or they, went straight to the solar stack.”

“You mean Dune's knowledge-“ Vira cuts herself off. 

“Has been thoroughly digested, I'm afraid.” The Doctor continues, frowning. 

“Don't make jokes like that, Doctor.” Sarah scolds, grimacing. 

He swings his head over to Sarah. There is no hint of a smile on his face. “When I say I'm afraid, Sarah, I'm not making jokes.”

Vira goes back over to the capsules, checking her equipment. Harry and Sarah start talking quietly beside us. I brush my shoulder against the Doctor’s arm, getting his attention. “Do you think the process is reversible?”

The Doctor frowns, looking down at me and lowering his voice. “I highly doubt it.” 

“Yeah, I figured.” I murmur, feeling a pang of disappointment. “Poor Vira.” 

“What?” His eyes flicker over to Vira and then back to me. “She hasn’t been acting strangely.”

I shake my head. “I mean because of Noah.”

“I don’t understand.” The Doctor admits, curving his body closer to mine. He has such a huge presence this go around. It’s strange to me that, just with his body alone, he can close off a space in such a way that I feel like we are the only two people in the world. 

“You are probably the cleverest man I’ve ever met, but you didn’t notice that they were together?” I tease, lips curling up into a smile. Shifting, I allow myself to lean into the area of protection his body has created between us.

He frowns, eyes flickering as he thinks. “I don’t remember seeing anything to indicate they were together?” 

I purse my lips, trying to find a way to explain it. “It was in the way Vira talked about Noah. She was professional right up until she opened his capsule, and then her voice changed. And he obviously cares for her too. He didn’t listen to what anyone said until Vira tried to reason with him. He still ran off, but you could see him fight it for just a second.” Nodding out at the capsules themselves, I continue. “Also, there are the capsules. In sets of two, with a man and woman respectively. Vira and Noah shared a capsule pair.” 

Turning my attention back to the Doctor, I’m taken aback at the look of fond affection on his face. “In moments like this, you shine like the sun.” He murmurs. 

Sending him a strange look, I shake my head. “It’s just an observation.”

The Doctor goes to reply, but at that moment a woman starts talking over an intercom system. “Hello, Space Station Nerva. This is the Earth High Minister.” So a recorded message then, a pep talk to the people on the station. Vira pauses in her work, stepping out into the middle of the room with a sad look on her face.

“The fact that you are hearing my voice in a message recorded thousands of years before the day in which you are now living, is a sure sign that our great undertaking, the salvation of the human race, has been rewarded with success.” The High Minister says, voice resonating through the room. 

“You have slept longer than the recorded history of mankind, and you stand now at the dawn of a new age. You will return to an Earth purified by flame, a world that we cannot guess at. If it be arid, you must make it flourish. If it be stony, you must make it fertile. The challenge is vast, the task enormous, but let nothing daunt you.” I have to give it to the High Minister, she certainly knew how to work a crowd. Even I was getting pumped up. 

“Sounds like a sort of pre-match pep talk.” Harry comments, looking up at the ceiling. 

“Remember, citizen volunteers, that you are the proud standard bearers of our entire race.” The High Minister continues. “Of the millions that walk the world today, you are the chosen survivors. You have been entrusted with a sacred duty, to see that human culture, human knowledge, human love and faith, shall never perish from the universe. Guard what we have given you with all your strength. And now, across the chasm of the years, I send you the prayers and hopes of the entire world. God speed you to a safe landing.”

Vira lowers her head, returning to her equipment check. 

“Well, I bet that did your female chauvinist heart a power of good.” Harry turns to Sarah with a smile. 

Sarah looks confused. “Why?”

Harry shrugs, smile persisting. “Well, I mean, fancy a member of the fair sex being top of the totem pole.”

“Oh Harry.” I murmur. “And here I was just starting to like you.”

Rolling my eyes at the idiocy of men in the 70’s, I go over and stand by the Doctor. He flicks his eyes over to me, a smirk on his lips. “Don’t you start either.” I mutter at him. 

“I would never.” The Doctor tells me, faking affront. “One doesn’t live as long as I do and not know who’s really on top of the totem pole.”

I bump his shoulder with mine, linking our hands together. “That being?”

“Those who are capable of it. Doesn’t matter if they are man or woman or gender-neutral.” He elaborates, squeezing my hand.

“Such a sweet talker.” I say to him, affection arching through me. “Be careful Doctor. Keep saying things like that and you’ll be beating off the ladies with a stick.”

The Doctor looks down at me, fondness etched into his features. “I’d rather imagine that you’d be beating them off with a stick for me.”

“Shush.” Grumbling, I look away with embarrassment. 

“Vira! Vira!” Noah’s voice sounds over the intercom system, his breathing is labored. 

“Noah!” Vira breaths, rushing into the room with the intercom interface. We follow closely behind her. “Yes, Commander?”

“Vira, hear me.” Noah begins. “This is an order. Expedite revivification. Commence main phase now.”

Vira shakes her head, even though Noah can’t see it. “But Noah, the safety checks-“

Noah cuts her off. “Ignore safety checks! We, you, are in great danger. Get our, your people to the Earth before-“ His voice trails off, sounding agonized. 

“Noah?” Vira prompts.

"Before the Wirrn. Vira, take command. Now hear me. You take command!” Noah orders.

“What has happened?” Vira asks, voice impressively steady. If the Doctor was in the same position I don’t think I’d be able to do the same. “Commander, are you there?”

There is more labored breathing filtering over to us from his side. “The Wirrn are here. They will-“ Noah pauses. “We shall absorb the humans. The Earth shall be ours.”

“Noah!” Vira calls out. “Noah!”

It sounds as if Noah bites back a scream. “Vira. Vira, there's no time. They're in my mind, getting stronger. Libri is dead. You will all die. Must save our people. You must!”

Vira turns around and looks at us. Her face looks lost. 

“The chap sounds in a bad way.” Harry comments, obviously unused to upset females. 

“What did he mean, they're in his mind?” Vira demands, expression evening out. 

“Absorb?” The Doctor muses, swinging around and looking straight at me. “We shall absorb the humans? Endoparasitism?”

“They bounce ideas off each other because they are generally the only one’s who understand what it is the other one is talking about.” I hear Sarah explain to someone behind me. 

“I don’t know.” I admit, frowning at my own lack of knowledge. I don’t even know what endoparasitism is.

Shaking his head, the Doctor continues as if no one had said anything. “If the Wirrn can do that, we've no chance at all. Complete physical absorption.”

“Of us?” Vira asks.

“They'll literally eat us alive. Vira, I must talk with Noah. You'd better come with me. He trusts you.” The Doctor gestures towards the door.

Vira shakes her head. “My duty is to supervise the revivification.”

“No. Noah has passed the command to you.” The Doctor corrected. “Your duties have been widened.”

Face going cold, Vira stares at the Doctor for several moments. “What is your intention?”

“To find out exactly what it is we're facing. And only Noah knows that.” The Doctor states, staring back at her and letting her see how serious he is.

“But I cannot leave until the last of our technical section have awakened.” Vira argues with him.

I smirk at Harry. “Harry can handle that for you, can't you, Harry?”

Harry looks as if someone has smacked him over the head with a baseball. “Well, I-“

The Doctor cuts him off, continuing in the same vein as me. “Well, you've watched Vira. You know the procedure.” 

“Yes, I-“ Harry starts, trailing off.

Vira sighs, stepping forward and handing Harry the device in her hand. “One gramme of scropholine when the neural register enters the red zone.”

Harry looks down at the device. “Right.”

“And the injection must be right over the pectoralis major.” Vira continues. 

“Ah, yes, now that I do understand.” Harry perks up, looking more confident.

Vira turns to follow the Doctor and I, who at this point are waiting at the door for her. 

Sarah looks at Harry. “Good luck!” 

“And Sarah, you stay and help Harry.” The Doctor advises, face unchanging with the resulting slump to Sarah’s shoulders. 

I understand her disappointment, but the Doctor is right to tell her to stay behind. A creature that can eat you alive? Best to keep the more breakable humans behind doors. 

The Doctor, Vira and I leave the cryogenic section and head along the corridor. Waving his hand along a panel next to the door, the Doctor waits for it to open. Only, on the other side of it is Noah. Well, what’s left of Noah. Half of his body is covered in some sort of green goop, and he’s hunched over like it’s difficult to walk. 

“Keep back! Don't touch me!” Noah orders. 

Vira steps forward, disregarding Noah’s orders. “Noah.”

Noah brings up his gun, causing Vira to pause. “Keep back, I said!”

“Noah, tell us one thing. How much time do we have?” The Doctor asks urgently. 

“Time?” Noah responds, eyes going distant. 

The Doctor nods. “Before the Wirrn reach their adult form?”

“It feels near, very near.” Noah whispers. His face is still oddly blank. “The tearing free and then the great blackness rushing through.” The hand holding the gun spasms, and the gun falls to the floor. In the distraction that causes, Noah turns around and rushes off. 

Vira stays facing away from us, and her voice is quiet when she speaks. “Noah and I were pair-bonded for the new life.”

I lean forward, placing a soft hand on Vira’s shoulder. “We should probably get back.”

She nods, walking back in the direction of the Cryogenic chamber. I watch her go, feeling absolutely terrible about the situation. The Doctor comes up behind me, placing a hand on my back and softly exerting pressure to get me to move. 

Reluctantly, I start to follow Vira, and if I happen to lean a little heavier on the Doctor’s palm than I might normally have, well that’s between him and me. 

We round the corner just in time to see Sarah walk over to the original creature that fell out of the closet. “Look.” She tells two people that I haven’t seen before. Probably woken up by Harry. They don’t look pleased to see it. “Oh, it's okay. It's dead.”

The Doctor rushes past me and kneels down by the creature. Wirrn, I suppose they are called. “But unfortunately, its larvae are still very much alive.”

“Vira!” One on the new men call out, looking pleased to see her.

“Vira, it's gone wrong!” The other one says in dismay. 

“Welcome, Lycett, Rogin. You feel well?” Vira asks, tone even. I admire her professionalism.

Lycett nods. “Yes, Commander.”

The Doctor gestures for Harry to help him and they drag the Wirrn into the center of the room. 

Harry drops his end, wiping his hands on his pants. “What are we going to do with it?”

“How much anatomy do you remember, Harry?” The Doctor asks.

“Quite a lot, I think, but you need a blooming entomologist for this thing.” Harry shakes his head. 

The Doctor shifts, looking at Harry in the eyes. “We need to find its weaknesses and we need to find them quickly.” Harry sighs, but kneels down next to the Doctor. 

“Can we help?” Vira asks.

“Not at the moment, thank you.” The Doctor replies.

Vira nods, turning to her fellow shipmates. “Then we will commence the main phase. Lycett, Rogin.” They walk off towards the records room, the one that help all the microfilm. 

My brows furrowed. Main phase? They are going to wake everyone up right now? I follow them, frowning. “Vira, I don’t think this is the best idea.”

“Noah said we should expedite the revivification program and get our people to work.” Vira states. She looks determined.

“It was good that he said that, it meant he was able to fight against the Wirrn and their programming. It was also an incredibly bad idea.” I explain, trying to get her to understand. “We are dealing with creatures that can absorb people alive. You saw what it did to Noah-”

Vira interrupts me. “We have to try!”

I shake my head. “These creatures can absorb people alive. Stop the revivification and let the Doctor do his thing. If we fail, if it doesn’t work, then your people will die in their sleep. If you wake them up, and we still fail? They will experience the same thing Noah is going through right now.”

There is a subtle shift of air from behind me, then the Doctor is brushing up against my shoulder. “Mabel is right, Vira.”

Vira looks at the Doctor with wet eyes. “You have an alternative plan?”

“Between the larval and imago forms, there must be a pupal stage. Now, the Wirrn will be dormant and defenseless. If we can find their weaknesses?” The Doctor leans in, eyes going wide in supplication. 

“We might destroy them?” Vira confirms.

The Doctor nods. “Yes.”

“Very well.” Vira look over at her two shipmates, who look more than happy to not be doing what they are doing. “Stand down.”

The Doctor breaths out in relief. I only notice because he’s right behind me. “Good.”

“There's a power flutter in section four, Commander.” A man, I think his name was Lycett, informs Vira. He’s bent over one of the console stations.

“What does that indicate?” Vira asks, focusing her attention on him. 

Lycett turns and looks back at Vira. “Some external fault. Shall I check the stacks?”

“No!” The Doctor rejects the idea. “The larvae have taken over the infrastructure. They seem to need solar radiation.” Then he turns on his heels and walks back towards Harry and the Wirrn corpse. Vira follows him.

“We should have stayed on Earth, Lycett.” The other man who was woken up, Rogin, says. “I liked the Earth. I like heat.”

I raise a hand to muffle my resulting laugh. Lycett meets my eyes with his own, looking faintly embarrassed. 

“Sorry about him.” Lycett apologizes. “He gets a little overenthusiastic sometimes.” 

“Honestly, I don’t blame him.” I respond, waving off his apology. They both look uncomfortable now, so I excuse myself and go out to where people are dissecting the Wirrn. It’s like I’m in biology class all over again. 

“Curious lung structure, Doctor. Look at it.” Harry quietly enthuses, studying the structure in front of him. 

“Yes, fascinating. A superb adaptation.” The Doctor agrees, kneeling down so he can get a better look.

Sarah leans over. “What is it?”

“Obviously the creature's lungs recycle the wastes, almost certainly by enzymes.” The Doctor explains. “Quite wonderful. Carbon dioxide back to oxygen.” 

“You mean the way plants make oxygen?” Sarah asks.

“Exactly right. It must live in space, probably just occasionally visiting a planetary atmosphere for food and oxygen, the way a whale rises from the ocean.” The Doctor hypothesizes. He shifts back into his heels. 

“Judging by the size of his mandibles, this chap doesn't live on plankton.” Harry muses. 

The Doctor looks over at him. “No.”

“Noah spoke of a great blackness rushing in.” Vira says, looking contemplative. “He meant space, but how did he know?”

“He now has the race memory of a Wirrn.” The Doctor explains. He has been fiddling around the Wirrn’s eyes, and now he pulls one straight off. “Symbiotic atavism to be precise. I'm going to need your help now, Vira.” Jumping up, the Doctor heads into the records room. I follow, feeling as if this man is about to do something incredibly dangerous and it’ll be up to me to stop him. “Do you have any spare extension leads, Rogin?”

“Yes” Rogan says. “But what do you want-“

The Doctor interrupts. “Hurry, man. Fetch them.” Rogin hurries off, probably to go fetch the leads. 

“What are you going to do, Doctor?” Vira asks. 

“A little experiment. Circuit display, Lycett.” The Doctor pointedly looks at the other technician. Lycett presses a button and the display turns on.

Vira looks confused. “It's forbidden to alter those circuits.”

“I need the neural cortex amplifier.” The Doctor aims a mischievous smile up at Vira. “Not for long, don't worry.” He attaches the lead that Rogin came back with to the eye and then attaches that to the monitor.

I move to stand next to him, crossing my arms.

The Doctor ignores me. “Right, switch on the video circuit, Lycett. It'll take a little time to warm up.” He finally releases the eye, wiping his hands.

“Doctor, what are you trying to do, exactly?” Harry asks.

“Sometimes latent neural impressions can be revived.” The Doctor explains. 

Harry face scrunches in disbelief. “Really?”

The Doctor nods. “Yes.”

“I've never heard of that.” Harry counters. 

“Advanced technology.” The Doctor replies, focusing on the screen. “Gypsies used to believe that the eye retained its last image after death. Not so far out.” The image on the monitor is staticky, nothing coming through. “No, it's not going to work. Switch off, Lycett.”

“Now what?” Sarah asks. 

“It should work. The coil isn't giving a strong enough stimulus.” The Doctor frowns, thinking. “I'll have to link in my own cerebral cortex. That's the only thing.”

“That is highly dangerous.” Vira protests at once. 

“Also stupid.” I add. 

“I know.” The Doctor responds. “Two more leads, Rogin.”

Vira takes a step forward. “The power could burn out a living brain!”

“I agree. An ordinary brain. But mine is exceptional.” The Doctor smirks. 

“This isn’t a contest.” I scold him. 

“I cannot permit it. The shock might kill you.” Vira tells him. Oh Vira, you never forbid the Doctor to do something, he’ll only take that as a challenge. 

“I think not.” The Doctor responds. “Unless, of course, the experiment was interrupted. That could be dangerous.”

Sarah looks worried. “Do you have to do it, Doctor?”

“Yes, why take the risk?” Harry continues in the same vein. 

“If I can find out what it was that killed that creature, we might have a chance of fighting the Wirrn. That's our only hope.” The Doctor insists, looking at Harry in the eyes, then focusing on Sarah. 

“Yes, but do you have to be the one-“ Sarah asks, but the Doctor cuts her off. 

“It's not just our existence that's at stake, Sarah. It's the entire human race.” He explains, sending a brilliant smile in her direction. “It may be irrational of me, but human beings are quite my favorite species.”

The Doctor brings the leads up to attach to his forehead, but I stop him. “You said only you could do it, why?” 

His brow crinkles, like he’s trying to figure out why I’m asking. “My processing power is different than a human’s. Like I said, I’ll be fine as long as no one interrupts the experiment.” 

I still have my side of the connection blocked, I never reopened it from earlier. This ensures the Doctor doesn’t feel my satisfaction at his answer. 

“Then it doesn’t have to be you.” I point out. His face shifts, already forming a negation, but I bulldoze through it. “No. Based on your explanation, I should have no problem doing the same thing.” 

The Doctor’s eyes flicker behind me, and he lowers his voice until it’s almost a whisper. Those behind me certainly won’t be able to hear it. “It’s more dangerous than that.” 

Lowering my voice to the same pitch, I reply. “I am well aware of that, I’m not stupid. But right now, you are the smartest person in this room. If something were to happen, I want you to be able to do everything in your power to save these people and that won’t happen if something goes wrong with the experiment.” Raising my voice to a normal level. “I’ll be doing it in your place.” 

He looks frustrated, but there really isn’t anything he can do in this situation. I have him trapped by his own words. The Doctor stands up, and I sit in his place. He takes the leads from me and gently attaches them to each side of my temple. 

“Before I turn it on. I want you to open up.” The Doctor murmurs. 

I’m confused, but then it clicks. “I’d really rather not.” 

His jaw twitches, frustration evident in his body language. “Mabel, I’ll be able to monitor you through it. Pull you out if something bad happens.”

I frown, but he’s right. I really don’t want to get stuck being a vegetable or something like that. Hesitantly, I open my side of the connection. His emotions burst into my minds. Frustration. Worry. Affection. 

“Ready?” The Doctor asks me. 

I nod, look at him straight in the eyes. “Always ready.”

The Doctor flicks his eyes over to Lycett. “Switch on, Lycett.”

Lycett must do so, because the next thing I’m aware of is pain. My whole body tenses, and my mouth opens in a wordless scream. 

I’m vaguely aware of the Doctor frantically patting my cheek and calling my name. With what feels like a gargantuan effort, I consciously relax my muscles. My face falls into a grimace, rather than a scream and my body hunches forward. I’m unable to make myself do anything other than that.

Than it comes. The Wirrn’s impressions. It saw the space shuttle, boarded it. The guard, the one that we ran into earlier. It shot the Wirrn. The Wirrn was dying, but it was stubborn. It bit the cables, turning off the security system and then with it’s last strength it crawled all the way here. It infected a person, then it died. Then there was nothing. 

Nothing continued to happen until there was a knock on the door. The knock became a pounding, and the pounding became a battering ram. My consciousness tilted and clicked. I became aware of the Doctor’s forehead pressed against mine. His voice a constant in my ears. “Ah there we are, welcome back Mabel.” 

“Ow fuck.” I close my eyes, the pounding in my head getting worse. Wait. “Is that noise in my head?”

The Doctor shifts, moving back. There is the sound of running footsteps. I open my eyes in time to see Harry and Rogin enter the room with guns. They point them at the door and fire at a Wirrn larvae. It backs up in response at first, but powers through. Part of the membrane comes off and shows a reddish underbelly. 

“Aim lower!” I yell to be heard over the sound of their guns firing. 

The Wirrn falls back and retreats. Harry and Rogin follow it, then retreat as well and close the door to block off that avenue of approach. 

“It's gone back through the grille.” Rogin informs us. 

Harry rushes over to Sarah. “That was a close one. You all right, Sarah?” 

Sarah nods. “Yes.”

“Doctor?” Harry asks. 

The Doctor is frowning. “Why, Why have they gone over to the attack?” 

“They want to destroy us.” Vira insists. 

I shake my head. “If they wanted to do that, all they have to do is wait. In their adult form they would be a thousand times deadlier. Those guns in your hands would have little to no effect.”

“How many of them will there be?” Sarah asks, voice hushed. 

“A hundred, at least.” I wipe my hands down my clammy face. 

“A hundred?” Harry echoes. “We won't stand a chance. How can we fight a hundred of those?” 

The Doctor is still next to me. I lean into him slightly. “Electricity. Electricity can hurt them.”

“The auto-guard.” The Doctor murmurs. “Half a million volts.”

“Exactly.” My head pounds in time with my heartbeat. 

“But we found the queen in the cupboard.” Harry argues.

I focus on Harry. “The Wirrn was incredibly stubborn. It was dying and it knew it, but it wouldn’t stop until it did what it set out to do.”

The Doctor hums. “Yes. Rogin, is there any way we can electrify the infrastructure?”

“Not from here, Doctor.” Rogin replies. “We'd have to run cables from the control center.”

“Control center?” The Doctor jumps up and heads for the door. “Right, let's go!”

“You can't go that way, Doctor.” Harry stops him.

“Noah's waiting out there.” Rogin elaborates. “Put one foot inside the transom and you'll be dead.”

“Yes, I was forgetting Noah's extra mobility.” The Doctor spins around, I can feel his mind whirling. 

“We're trapped.” Vira states.

“No.” The Doctor shakes his head. “The Wirrn are using Dune's knowledge of the Ark. Perhaps there's something he didn't know.”

Rogin looks doubtful. “Dune was first tech. He knew it all.”

Vira elaborates. “He helped design the systems.”

“Nobody knows it all.” The Doctor starts to smile. “Perhaps he's forgotten that these transmats are reversible?”

Rogin chuckles. “Oh ho, that's clever.”

“Isn't it?” The Doctor asks, his smile becoming less comforting and more like the sight of sharks teeth. “And as you appreciate it, Rogin, you can go first. I'll give you a hand. Come on.”

Rogin’s face falls. He climbs up into the transmat container and lays down. “Oh well, I never liked it here anyway.”

The Doctor smiles, pressing the buttons necessary to reverse the process. Rogin disappears, presumably to the other transmat bed. “You next, Harry.”

Harry climbs up, the sight of him with one shoe no longer seems funny. Everything is going downhill now. The Doctor presses the correct button and Harry fades away. 

I gesture at Sarah, helping her up into the bed. Just as the Doctor presses the button to send her off, all the lights dim. 

“That was a power drain.” The Doctor murmurs, pressing the button for the intercom. “Hello, control center?”

‘Hello, Doctor.’ Rogin responds. “We've got a power failure.’

“It's general, then. Do you have a fault reading?” The Doctor asks. 

There is a pause. ‘Section four. That's the secondary stack. There's no power coming from there at all-’ Rogin’s voice fades away as the power drain worsens.

“All power systems are self repairing.” Vira states. It’s like she still doesn’t understand that the Wirrn are sabotaging the system. 

The Doctor hums. “Malicious damage excluded.”

“Oh well, obviously I am not going anywhere.” Sarah states, sitting up. “Help me, Doctor.” He reaches up and lifts her off the top platform, placing her gently on the ground. 

Vira looks around, an expression of resignation crossing her face. “The oxygen pumps have stopped.”

“Makes sense.” I murmur. Everyone turns to me. “In this stage they don’t need oxygen. Easy way to kill us.”

“Well, suffocation is not the most unpleasant death.” Vira states, a half smile on her face. I think this is the first time I’ve heard her try to crack a joke. Of course it’s gallows humor.

“What?” The Doctor demands, turning towards Vira. “We're not finished yet.” He gestures to Vira and Sarah. “You two stay here.”

“Where are you two going?” Sarah asks. 

“The infrastructure. If they've entered the pupal stage, they'll be dormant.” The Doctor explains, opening a panel next to the door and manually pumping it so the door opens. 

Vira takes a step towards us. “You're forgetting Noah.”

“No, I'm not.” The Doctor states. “I think his job's done now. He'll be metamorphosing too.” With that, he pulls me down the hallway with him. 

I let him pull me, still a little disoriented by what happened earlier. My wrist is in his grip, so I shift it until he loosens enough for me to move. I don’t pull away, I just link my hand with his. The presence of him in my mind is a balm to my inflamed synapses. 

The Doctor stays silent as we walk, so I follow his lead. He has a flashlight at least, so we aren’t wandering around in the dark. We enter a room with catwalks and the Doctor heads towards two pupal membrane sacks. They are huge. 

He reaches out to touch one, but I pull him back. There’s no telling what touching it with his bare hands would do. The Doctor nods, heading over to a panel with a lever on it, dropping my hand so he can turn it. 

Softly, there comes a noise from behind us. The scritch scratch noise of something walking along the floor. The Doctor must feel my apprehension because he immediately turns around and focuses on something behind me. I spin around as well. It’s a fully grown Wirrn, and it’s blocking the only way out. 

The Doctor pushes me behind him, but a second later it proves to be unnecessary. There’s gun fire and the Wirrn convulses in pain. 

“Run!” Sarah cries out. It seems that Vira and her have come to rescue us. Just in time too. 

The Doctor and I dart past the Wirrn, and the four of us start to make our way out of the room. 

“Stay, Vira. Stay.” The Wirrn speaks, making us pause. “Abandon the Ark, Vira. Take the transport ship. Leave now. If you stay, you are doomed.” 

I close my eyes for a few seconds in compassion. This isn’t going to be a pretty conversation. Especially now that Noah seems to have been completely converted into one of them. 

“That would be desertion.” Vira manages to get out. 

“Then you must die, all of you. When the Wirrn emerge, you will be hunted down and destroyed, as you destroyed us.” Noah says. 

I exchange a look with the Doctor. 

“We've never destroyed.” Sarah exclaims, but cuts herself off mid sentence. “What does he mean?”

“Long ago, long ago humans came to the old lands.” Noah explains, painting a clearer picture of the situation. “For a thousand years the Wirrn fought them, but you humans destroyed the breeding colonies. The Wirrn were driven from Andromeda.”

So this was a mission of revenge, just as surely as it was a mission of procreation. My stomach sinks to the floor. So much for trying to negotiate.

“Andromeda?” Vira asks, sitting down on the steps to the catwalk. She seems stunned. “So our star pioneers succeeded?”

“Since then we have drifted through space, searching for a new habitat. The Ark is ours. It must be ours.” Noah insists, pinchers clicking. 

“But the Wirrn live in space.” I say, holding my head. Anytime I try to pull knowledge from what I saw when connected to the eye it sends a burst of pain across my sore mental pathways. “You wouldn’t need this station.”

“You know nothing.” Noah hisses. “We live in space, but our breeding colonies are terrestrial.”

“But you could leave the Ark and go on. There's plenty of room in the galaxy for us all.” The Doctor suggests. If only it were that easy. 

“In the old lands, senseless herbivores, cattle, were the hosts for our hatchlings. Now we shall use the humans in the cryogenic chamber. We shall be informed with all human knowledge. In one generation, the Wirrn will become an advanced technological species. We shall have power!” Noah, or more specifically in this sense, the Wirrn exclaims.

Vira shakes her head. “That proposition is genetically impossible.”

Noah’s front feelers wiggle about. “I already have all Dune's knowledge. High energy physics, quantum mechanics. Every ramate in the next hatching of Wirrn will possess the sum of your race's learning. That is why you must die.”

One of the pupae starts to split it’s membrane sack in the back corner. 

“Time to leave.” The Doctor insists, voice urgent. We hurry along the corridor. 

I can hear Noah speak one last time from behind us. “Leave the Ark, Vira, or die with the rest of your race.”

Vira hurries out of the room, face averted towards the floor. I do her the courtesy of pretending not to see the moisture welling up in her eyes. 

Instead of heading back to the cryogenic room, the Doctor leads us towards the control room. It’s not hard to find, it’s the only room that has the lights on. 

The Doctor heads in first, pausing at the doorway. I’m next, just in time to see Harry and Rogin lowering their weapons. 

“Doctor! Mabel! Sarah!” Harry exclaims. “It's taken you long enough to get here. I was worried stiff.”

“We bumped into Noah.” The Doctor says in explanation. Sarah and Vira file in the room after us. 

Rogin sighs. “Again?”

“Yes.” The Doctor states, pacing over and taking a seat on the transmat table. “Quite chatty this time. Garrulous, even.”

“You've got the power on.” Vira comments, looking pleased.

“No, Commander, I'm using photon energy.” Rogin responds. “There's just enough to run the lights.”

Harry has an impatient look on his face. “Well, what did Noah say?”

“Vamoose or stick around and get killed.” Sarah tells him, leaning back against the wall.

“I'm ready to go.” Harry states, looking over at the Doctor and me. “Doctor?”

The Doctor ignores the question, digging around in his pocket. He pulls out a package, opening it to reveal sweets. “Anyone for a jelly baby?”

I shrug. Might as well. Taking one from the bag, I’m pleasantly surprised by the flavor that bursts over my tongue. 

Harry sends me an incredulous look. “Well, look, why don't we all just pile into the Tardis?”

“No?” The Doctor asks. 

“Tardis?” Vira echoes.

"Yes.” Harry says, gesturing to the Tardis in the next room. “A sort of spaceship thing in there. Plenty of room for all of us.”

“Vira has no intention of leaving here, have you, Vira?” The Doctor looks up at her from his position sitting on the table. 

Vira shakes her head. “I can't.”

“Of course you can't.” The Doctor replies. “So neither can we.”

“Ah well, that settles us.” Sarah sighs.

“Besides” The Doctor says, eating a jelly baby himself. “We can't let the Wirrn eat through the cryogenic sleepers as though they were a lot of-“

“Jelly babies?” Harry cuts the Doctor off, tone sarcastic.

Ignoring the sarcasm, the Doctor nods. “Exactly. Let them be turned into a lot of surrogate humans? It's the most immoral suggestion I've heard for a century.”

“How can we stop them?” Rogin asks, looking fed up with the whole conversation. 

“High voltage power. If we can somehow send enough electrical power through the bulkheads of the cryogenic chamber-“ The Doctor begins. 

Sarah cuts him off. “Like an electric fence?”

“Yes.” The Doctor confirms. “The Wirrn would never dare to cross it. The only problem is we don't have any electrical power and they control its sources, the solar stacks.”

“Well, we can forget that idea then, can't we.” Harry sighs in disappointment. 

“Doctor.” Sarah tries to get his attention.

“Unless we can lure them out of the infrastructure.” The Doctor muses, ignoring Sarah.

Sarah tugs on the Doctors arm. “No, wait a minute.”

“How can we do that?” Vira asks, also ignoring Sarah.

“Bait. Human bait!” The Doctor exclaims. “If one of us could distract them for a few moments, I might be able to get down there and turn the power on.”

“Doctor, will you listen?” Sarah insists, starting to look frustrated.

“Sarah, we're trying to make a plan.” He scolds her. 

That’s quite enough of that. Reaching out, I yank on his scarf and pull him around to face Sarah. “Mabel?” Comes his bewildered reply, hands coming up to brace mine on the scarf. 

Ignoring him, I focus on Sarah. “Now, what were you trying to say?”

She sends me a grateful smile. “I was just wondering about the transport ship that Noah mentioned.”

“What about it?” I ask, confused. 

“Well, surely it has its own power system, doesn't it?” Sarah states, completing the leap of logic that no one else has thought of. 

The Doctor abruptly stands up, realization on his face. My hand slips from his scarf now that he seems to actually be listening.

“Four granovox turbines!” Rogin exclaims. “That ship can generate twice the power of the Ark.”

“How can we reach it?” The Doctor asks. 

Vira brings up the Ark’s schematic on monitor in front of us. “Here's the connecting ramp. It's less than a hundred meters from this control room.”

“The only trouble is, how do we run a cable from the ship to the cryogenic chamber?” Rogin asks, rhetorical. “If it's in the open, they'll cut it.”

The Doctor hums. “Aren't there conduits?”

“Yes, but they're only about this wide.” Rogin places his hands about a foot and a half apart. “We'd need a mechanical cable runner.”

Sarah rocks forward on her heels. “Why can't I take that cable through? Well, I'm about that wide.”

“It's hardly a job for you, Sarah.” Harry protests. 

Rogin eyes her shoulders. “I reckon she might just squeeze through, Doctor.” 

The Doctor hesitates, looking over at me. I nod. It’s her choice. 

He turns to Sarah, beaming smile on his face. “Good girl, Sarah. Come on, we'd better hurry. The Wirrn are going to start moving any moment. You five go to the transport ship and I’ll start wiring up the cryogenic chamber.”

I want to go with him, but I know I’ll be more of a hinderance than a help. I wouldn’t know the first thing about how to wire something up. Mechanics was my specialty, not electronics. And, well, this Doctor doesn’t seem to be willing to teach me through it like some of the other Doctor’s I’ve jumped to. 

We part ways, the Doctor sending me a look of confusion as we do so. I guess he thought I was going to argue with him. No thanks, had enough of being called useless for one day. 

With a quick pit stop for a connecting wire, we quickly make our way down to the shuttle. Vira opens the access hatch first. She peers around the darkness, gun up and dangerous. 

Vira jerks her head to encourage us to come out. Harry and Rogin pile into the room, dropping the heavy cable of wires gently to the ground. I close the door behind us, taking care to do so as softly as possible. 

“This is the transport ship.” Rogin gestures to the exhaust ports above our heads before opening a small hatch in the side of the wall. “And here's the conduit. We'll connect one end up here, and you'll have to drag the other end through.” He looks over at Sarah. “Do you think you can manage it?” 

Sarah nods “I'll have to.” Rogin clasps her on the shoulder in response.

Vira makes eye contact with Sarah. “Good luck.”

Rogin opens a hatch on the bottom of the spaceship and presses a button. This causes a ladder to drop down, our access to the space shuttle. Rogin goes up, but the rest of us stay down here. 

Harry peers into the darkened conduit that Sarah has to crawl through doubtfully. “It seems very narrow, Sarah.” He turns his attention to Vira. “Does that lead straight to the cryogenic chamber?”

“No.” Vira shakes her head. “There are many junctions.” 

“How's she going to find her way in the dark and everything?” Harry asks?

Vira gazes at him, calm in the face of his worry. “We'll give her a two-way radio from the ship.” Nodding at Sarah, she continues. “We have a plan of the conduits. We can guide you.”

“All right, Commander.” Rogin’s raised voice comes from inside the ship. Vira climbs up into the shuttle to speak with him. 

Once she’s out of earshot, I look over at Sarah. She’s visibly nervous, biting her lip and fiddling with the hem of the shirt she’s wearing. “You don’t have to do this, y’know. We can find another way.”

“And when the extra time it takes to find the alternate solution gets another person killed?” Sarah raises an eyebrow. Her posture is strong now, no sign of fidgeting. “No, I am going to do this.”

I raise my hands in surrender, a smile teasing the corners of my lips. “Okay, You’re doing this.”

Rogin comes back down the ladder with a headset. Sarah goes over to him, listening intently as he explains how to use it. Harry comes up beside me, an interesting look on his face. “You did that on purpose.” 

“Sarah doesn’t seem like the kind of person who wants, or needs, someone to pat her on the head and tell her it’s going to be okay.” I murmur, voice low. “The best way to motivate her? Tell her she doesn’t have to do the thing.” 

Harry shakes his head, impressed, before he walks over to help Sarah put on her improvised harness. 

It really isn’t a harness, just a piece of rope looped around her body that’s attached to the electrical wire. Simple, but it’ll do the job. Harry lift her up into the conduit hole and off she goes. Rogin heads back up into the shuttle while Harry and I feed the extra wire into the hole as needed. I’m honestly impressed that Sarah can fit through it in the first place. It’s a very tiny hole. 

There’s a pause where Sarah stops. Harry frowns into the darkness. “How are you doing, old girl?”

“How do you think I'm doing, twit?” Sarah’s frustrated voice comes from inside the hole. 

“I'm sorry, I thought you were stuck.” Harry mutters, adjusting his feet. I bite back a smile. 

Several minutes pass in silence. Sighing, Harry looks over at me. “We’ve fed the line as much as possible right now. It’s time to go inside.”

I hesitate, biting my lip. “I’m worried Harry.”

“I know Mabel.” Harry says, placing a hand on my shoulder. “But there’s nothing left for us to do here. It’s in their hands now.”

Reluctantly, I let him direct me inside the spaceship. 

“Understood.” Sarah’s voice comes from the speaker system. Vira turns and nods at us, then goes back to watching the monitor in front of her. 

“Now, it's the second opening you come to on your left.” Rogin relays to Sarah. “You understand?”

“Yes.” Sarah replies, sounding strained. “Rogin, is it much further?”

Rogin shakes his head even though she can’t see it. “No, about another fifteen meters. You're almost there.”

“Oh, I hope so.” Sarah says, lowering her voice. I don’t think she means for us to hear the next bit. “Don't think I can go on much longer.”

“Yes, you can.” Vira encourages.

“Come along, Sarah.” Harry chimes in. “Stick at it.”

“That's the trouble.” Sarah mutters, embarrassment coloring her tone. “I keep getting stuck!”

“Marvelous thing about old Sarah. Terrific sense of humor.” Harry laughs uncomfortably. I face palm. These people are ridiculous. 

Several minutes pass. There is no news from Sarah. I start fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. There hasn’t been a burst of any concerning emotions coming from the Doctor, but that doesn’t mean nothing has happened. 

“Oh, hello, Rogin?” Sarah’s voice startles us, making most of us jump. 

Rogin fumbles with the controls, before finding the right button. “Yes, Sarah. Have you reached the cryogenic room yet?”

“The Doctor's connecting the cable now.” Sarah responds, sending a wave of visible relief around us.

“Beautiful. Let me know when to switch the power through.” Rogin reminds her, leaning back in his chair. 

It doesn’t even take a full minute before we hear the Doctor’s harried voice come over the speakers. “Are you ready, man?”

“Yes.” Rogin responds at once. 

“Switch on now!” The Doctor yells. 

Rogin is frantically pressing keys, even as he offhandedly gives an affirmative. There is several seconds of radio silence. 

Vira leans forward. “Hello, Doctor? Are you all right down there?”

There is a pause, as though he’s double checking. “For the moment.”

“You lack confidence?” Vira asks, looking concerned. 

“The Wirrn don't give up that easily.” Comes the Doctor’s reply. “They need the Ark. How is it your end?”

“Nothing on this end.” I say. 

“Good. Let’s hope it stays that way.” He responds, cutting the transmission. 

Unfortunately, not even two minutes later, Harry abruptly leans forward. “I say, Rogin, I don't want to be an alarmist, but I think I saw something moving.”

Rogin checks the monitors himself. “You're right. They're coming up the funnel.” He looks over at Vira. “Commander.”

“Start starboard four.” Vira commands. 

“Starboard four running.” Rogin reports after pressing a couple of buttons. 

Vira looks over at him. “Negative thrust out.”

Rogin presses another button. “Negative thrust out.”

“Full boost.” Vira instructs Rogin. 

“Full boost.” Rogin echoes, pulling a lever. “And check.”

On the monitor you can see exhaust smoke overtaking the Wirrn that can be seen on the screen. Rogin leaves it on for a couple of seconds then, as per Vira’s instructions, starts reversing everything he just did. 

The monitor clears of the exhaust, showing that the Wirrn were no longer down by the ladder. 

“I bet that singed their whiskers for them.” Harry states, looking pleased. 

Rogin also looks satisfied. “They won't try that again.”

“I wonder if Noah-“ Vira starts, cutting herself off before finishing the sentence. 

“Noah?” Rogin asks. 

Vira shakes her head. “Not important.”

The monitor crackles with an incoming transmission. It’s the Doctor. “Are you all right over there?”

Harry leans forward. “Ahoy there, Doctor. Yes, we're fine, thanks.”

“We heard a rocket engine.” The Doctor states, worry lurking in his tone.

“Oh, just a warning blast.” Harry brushed the Doctor off. “How are things with you?”

There’s a pause. The Doctor reaches out to me mentally, I try to respond but it feels as if I’m reaching out through molasses. Must be how far away we are from each other right now. Whatever the Doctor was looking for, he must have found because his presence recedes right after my clumsy attempt at reaching back. “All right at the moment.”

“Good.” Harry responds, oblivious to the byplay that just happened. 

“Keep in touch.” The Doctor orders, once again cutting the communications. 

I really am getting tired of him doing that. Honestly? At this moment, I just wanted this whole situation to be resolved so I could take a nap. 

The universe must have heard me, because at that moment the monitor picked up movement on the outside of the Ark. 

“They're coming in through the reversion vents!” Vira cries, looking distressed. 

“Look at them.” Rogin states. “There's a whole army of them out there.”

Vira presses the button for communication. “Doctor, the Wirrn have space walked round the Ark and have broken into our cargo hold.”

The radio crackles. “How many of them are there, Vira?”

“We cannot say, but it looks as though the entire swarm is attacking.” She responds, keeping a close eye on the monitors. 

“How long will it take them to reach your control deck?” The Doctor asks. 

“A few minutes only.” Vira informs the Doctor, a grim look on her face. “The interior bulkheads have a low stress factor.”

“Tell Rogin to cut the power.” The Doctor responds after a pause. “We're coming out.”

Rogin presses a button. “Power off, Doctor.”

“Good. Set the controls on automatic take off and evacuate the ship. Hurry!” The Doctor orders.

Rogin looks over at Vira. She nods back. “We’ll do as you say Doctor.”

Vira retreats down the ladder, and I pull Harry along with me as it looks as if he’d just stay where he was if left unattended. 

The Doctor is there by the time we reach the bottom. “Into the Ark, fast as you can! You too, Sarah! Harry, you go with the girls.” 

Harry takes Sarah and they go off into the Ark. The ship above us starts to ramp up in terms of noise. The engines sound as if they are overheating. Rogin quickly makes his way down the ladder, closing it behind him. 

“Rogin, help me with the synestic locks.” The Doctor orders, pulling something out of the support strut closest to him. 

Rogin runs over to one, sending a brief humorless smile over to the Doctor. “I thought that was your idea.”

Harry hurries back out. “What are you going to do, Doctor?”

The Doctor spares him a brief look. “Just look after Sarah, Harry.”

Harry huffs, but takes off back inside. The Doctor doesn’t look at me, but I can feel his swirling emotions. “You won’t leave even if I ask you to, will you?”

“No, cause I have a feeling that you’re about to do something stupid.” I reply, following him as he completes that lock and moves on to the next one. 

Rogin rushes over, now finished with his own lock and places his hands on top of the Doctor’s. 

“Just leave this to us.” The Doctor tells him. 

“You know what'll happen when you cut that lock?” Rogin asks.

“There's no point in both of us being killed by the blast.” The Doctor argues. “Get into the Ark, man.”

Rogin smiles. “You don't want trouble with the space technician's union, Doctor.”

The Doctor frowns in confusion. “What?”

Fist flying out faster than the Doctor can react, Rogin knocks the Doctor out. “That’s my job.”

I catch the Doctor before he can hit the ground, looking up at Rogin. 

“Am I’m going to need to knock you out too?” He asks me. 

“No.” I reply. “I don’t think that’d be necessary.” 

Rogin gestures to an almost hidden hatch. “That’ll keep you safe.”

Throwing the Doctor over my shoulder, I pause before I head over to the hatch. “Are you sure about this?” 

He smirks. “No. But it’s my choice regardless. Now hurry!”

I get over to the hatch as fast as I can with the weight of the Doctor on my shoulders. The door is just closing behind us when the explosion resonates across the platform. Setting the Doctor against the wall, I let myself collapse into a sitting position. 

Moisture wells in my eyes for the brave man who’s now very dead outside. 

The Doctor jerks awake, cursing. 

“It’s to late.” I murmur, leaning my head back against the hatch. “Rogin is dead.”

Sighing heavily, the Doctor settles back against the wall himself. “Humans.”

For the first time, I truly understand the emotion behind the way he says it. I’m proud, upset, and sad all rolled into one. 

We stay there for another few seconds before the Doctor stands up. He holds out a hand, helping me to my feet. 

Quietly, both of us in a solemn mood, we make our way back to the main control room. 

“Come on, Sarah.” We hear Harry say to Sarah. “They'd have wanted you to be brave.”

“Being brave is overrated sometimes.” I say as we round the corner. 

Vira spins around. “Mabel! Doctor!” She then seems to notice the missing person. “Where’s Rogin?”

“Rogin's dead.” The Doctor says. 

“Oh!” Sarah comes over to the Doctor and tugs on his arm. “You’re okay.”

The Doctor attempts a smile, but gives up on it fairly quickly. “Yes, we're all safe now, Sarah, thanks to Rogin's bravery. And perhaps something else.”

“Something else?” Vira asks. She’s learned quickly to not ignore any of the Doctor’s cryptic comments. 

“Yes, some vestige of human spirit.” The Doctor responds. “Was Noah on our side and one step ahead of us at the end?”

Vira’s eyes well up with tears. “You mean by leading the swarm into the shuttle?”

The console beeps, indicating an incoming transmission. There is a video feed of the shuttle taking off into space. 

Vira accepts the transmission. “Space Station Nerva.”

“Goodbye, Vira.” Noah’s voice echoes in the room. Seconds later, the screen shows the shuttle exploding. 

“The shuttle’s blow up!” Sarah exclaims. 

I lean into the Doctor’s side, feeling him leaning back against me. 

“He must have known that that would happen.” Vira states. “Noah deliberately neglected to set the rocket stabilizers.”

“More than a vestige of human spirit. It can all begin now, Vira. Mankind is safe.” The Doctor tells her.

Vira takes a couple of step away from us, shaking her head. There’s a three second pause and then she turns back to us, her professional mask intact. “I must get my people back to Earth. Now that I've lost the transport ship, I shall have to rely on the matter transmitter.”

“Yes.” The Doctor sounds tired now as well.

“It'll be a long operation. It can only convey three people at a time.” Vira muses, staring at the transmat. 

“Yes, it could if it was functioning properly.” The Doctor says. “The signal's faulty. Probably the diode receptors. I'll just beam down and check them.”

“To Earth?” Sarah asks. 

The Doctor nods. “Yes, that's where the trouble is. Here, fetch me a coat from the Tardis, will you? You never know what the solar flares have done to the weather.” He gives Sarah the Tardis key so she can get inside for the coat and she rushes off. 

“It isn't anything serious?” Vira asks, looking concerned. 

“What?” The Doctor jerks in surprise. “Probably no more than a spot of corrosion. Whatever it is, it shouldn't take long to fix, and it'll give me a chance to see if the planet is fully viable again. What's keeping them? Sarah!”

Her voice can vaguely be heard from the depths of the Tardis. “Coming!”

Sarah and Harry enter, both wearing coats themselves. Actually, Sarah has an entirely different outfit on now. “Here's your coat.”

The Doctor thanks her and puts his own coat on, then steps into one of the transmat alcoves. Harry and Sarah step into the other two next to his. The Doctor pauses. “I don't remember inviting you two.”

“Er, no, you didn't.” Sarah replies. “But here we are.”

“Well, the Brigadier did tell me to stick with you, Doctor, and orders is orders.” Harry rationalizes. Yeah like that’s the real reason you’re now following him around like a puppy. 

There’s a look of fond exasperation on the Doctor’s face as he turns back to me. “I hope you don’t mind being left.”

“Nah.” I smile, rocking back and forth on my feet. “I’m exhausted, haven’t slept in a while. A shower and a nap sounds fantastic right now.”

The Doctor steps forward, out of his alcove, and comes up to me. The kiss is perfunctory, but the mental caress is anything but. Not only does it soothe my aching mental connections, it also soothes the part of me that had been worried about him while he wasn’t by my side. 

The kiss finishes, and the Doctor heads back into his alcove, triggering the transmat mechanism and sending the three of them off on another adventure. 

“What an extraordinary man.” Vira says, looking into the space he last was. 

“Yeah. That’s that Doctor for you.” I say, shifting back on my heels. Making my excuses, I finally manage to escape of into the Tardis. She burbles as I enter the doors, a welcome. “Hey old girl.” I say, trailing my fingers along the console. 

The Tardis lights dim, lights by the baseboard brightening to create a path for me to follow. I laugh tiredly. Even she’s telling me I need sleep. 

Sure enough, the end of the path leads me to our shared room. As soon as I’m inside, I strip my grimy clothes off, throwing them in the laundry chute as I walk by. A new outfit consisting of comfy leggings and an oversized t-shirt is all I can bring myself to scrounge up in the closet. One long shower later, I’m dressed and sitting at my desk, filling in my journal. 

This was a rough one. So many people died, and brave Rogin. I underline his name twice. The man who choose to die to save all of these people. Hero of the human race. 

I easily could have let myself wallow all night, but the Doctor chooses that moment to walk in through the door himself. He also looks exhausted. 

“Alright, sweetheart?” I murmur into the silence. 

The Doctor sighs, taking off his coat and unwinding his scarf. “As well as I could be, I suppose.”

I hum in commiseration from across the room. The Doctor flops down on the bed, limbs spread haphazardly in every direction. 

He opens his mouth and starts speaking but it’s in a language that I’ve never heard before. My brows furrow in confusion. “What?”

The Doctor repeats it, but I’m still incredibly confused. “I’m sorry hun, I can’t understand you.”

Siting up abruptly, he says something else with an alarmed look on his face. The look of confusion on my face must have convinced him I really wasn’t understanding him because he switches to English. “You really don’t understand the language I was using?”

“No.” I respond, bewildered. “Should I?”

His side of the connection closes with a snap that resonates through me. I resist the urge to wince, no wonder the Doctor always hated it when I did that. 

The Doctor shifts, getting to his feet. His expression turns cold and hard. “You know, I’m starting to think that you really aren’t Mabel.”

“Doctor, what are you talking about. Of course, I’m Mabel.” I tell him, taken about by the insinuation. 

“No, I don’t think you are.” He says. “It would make sense though. I was confused about you not knowing the systems, you should have learned it by now. But there is no real way to know with how confusing our timelines are in relation to each other. You could claim ignorance and I would believe you. Maybe you just hadn’t learned it yet? In reality, it was never really Mabel to begin with.”

I shake my head. “What are you even saying? Doctor, you’re not making sense.”

The Doctor ignores that. “What are you here for? Information on me? Your copy must be good for the Tardis to even let you on, she’s very fond of Mabel.”

“I am Mabel!” I say, frustrated with the whole conversation.

“No.” The Doctor shakes his head. “You are just a pale imitation of her. Even our bond is just a fraction of what it should be. What? Couldn’t replicate it all the way?”

The Doctor advances on me. I eye him, my frustration falling aside in place of apprehension. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

The Doctor takes the last few steps, grabbing my forearms. “Who are you really?” I’ve never heard him like this before. At least not towards me. His rage is cold in its intensity.

“I’m Mabel!” I attempt to reason with him, gently shifting my arms in his grip. He tightens his hands instead, and I wince as the sensation becomes painful. “Doctor, you’re hurting me.”

“Oh, I’m hurting you am I?” The Doctor gives me a shake. “Where is my bondmate? My Wife? You better pray that wherever she is right now, she hasn’t been hurt or I think you’ll find I won’t be as nice as I am right now.”

“Nice?” I spit, trying to mask my growing fear. “This is nice. Being a brute is being nice?” 

“This is the only chance you get, speak.” He says, there is a note of finality in his voice. 

I laugh bitterly. “I am speaking, you just aren’t listening to me.” 

The Doctor let’s go of one hand and swiftly brings it to my forehead. “Time’s up.” I can feel his intrusion, for the first time unwelcome, on two fronts. One, inside my head, and the other as the connection rebels against the force he’s using. 

Seeing my chance, I throw my side of the connection open as wide as I can make it. Throwing my turbulent emotions against the barrier in his own mind only buys me a moment, but a moment is all I need. The Doctor has left himself wide open, so I bring up my free hand and sock him right in the nose.   
It’s a shitty punch, the Doctor is far too tall for me to be able to make full contact, but I put a lot of force behind it. Enough to get him to rock back and release my other hand at least. 

As soon as I’m free, I put the bed between us. The Doctor sways, hand coming to his nose. His eyes are unfocused. “Mabel?”

“Oh, now you’ve decided that I’m Mabel.” I hiss, furious. 

“Oh, Mabel. I’m so sorry.” He swallows heavily. “I didn’t-“

I cut him off. “I don’t particularly want to hear your excuses right now Doctor.”

It doesn’t look as though the Doctor will be trying to grab me again, so I lean up against the wall. With each pump of my heart, I can feel the bruises, caused by his fingertips, forming on my skin. My hand throbs periodically, a shitty punch indeed. 

“All day you’ve been taking shots at me, even before you decided that I wasn’t Mabel.” I say, breaking the silence that had descended between us. “From calling me useless, to questioning what I learned in school. Well I’m sorry, but 21st century curriculum doesn’t seem to have a course on how to handle equipment on a spaceship thousands of years into the future!”

Breathing heavily, I attempt to get my temper under control. The Doctor takes a step in my direction and I immediately put a hand up for him to stop, straightening up from my lean against the wall. 

“Mabel you’re hurt.” The Doctor says, sounding agonized. “I hurt you, please let me help.” 

I bring my eyes up to him. He looks as upset as he sounds. There is a thin trail of blood coming from his nose. I had closed my side of the connection directly after I rebounded it on him, so I have no idea what state of mind he’s in right now.

“No.” I murmur. “I need to go think.” So that’s what I do. I turn my back to the Doctor and walk out the door. I can hear his rapid footsteps, but the Tardis helps me out by slamming the door and disappearing the doorknob.

I direct my thanks to the wall next to me, trailing my fingers along it as I walk. There is no destination in mind, just aimless wandering. I walk for hours. Eventually, the Tardis intervenes. She puts me in a looped hallway with only one door. Our door. 

It’s still missing the doorknob, and that thought causes a ghost of a smile to come to my face. Knowing how particularly stubborn the Tardis is, I resign myself to my fate and sit down against the wall beside the door. 

I can hear the shifting of movement from inside, as though the Doctor is right on the other side as well. “Mabel?” His voice sounds wrecked. 

“Yes Doctor, I’m here.” I reply, too tired to be anything other than numb anymore. 

“I thought you left.” The Doctor tells me. 

I shake my head, even though he can’t see it. “I didn’t jump, if that’s what you mean. Not that it would have mattered. I always seem to jump back to you anyways.”

He sighs. “Can I come out now? Please.” 

Looking up at the ceiling, I nod. There isn’t a noise or anything to prove that the doorknob was back, but the next thing I know the Doctor is gingerly opening the door so I guess the Tardis unflattened it. He takes a seat next to me. I can feel his eyes burning on the side of my face. 

“You’re a lot younger than you look aren’t you?” The Doctor asks me. 

I feel a spark of anger rising up through my body, one that I quickly crush. Now isn’t the time for human sensibilities. “I don’t know how old you thought I was in the first place, Doctor.” My voice comes out sounding tired. 

He slowly scoots an inch closer to me. “You said first body. I would have said a little over two, maybe three hundred years old.”

“Have I explained my weird circumstances to you yet?” I ask, instead of answering his question. 

“Some of it, yes. Not everything.” The Doctor replies. 

I lean further back, peering at him from the corner of my eye. He notices me looking and places a hand on the floor next to mine, palm up. It’s an offer. One that I’m not quite sure I should accept just yet. So, for now, I ignore it.

“You explained this to me. Told me that one day you and I will go and figure this out.” I start, wondering the best way to phrase everything. “I’ve told you I was raised on Earth?”

The Doctor nods. “Yes, but you haven’t told me much else than that. You always said Spoilers.”

Spoilers. My mouth twists into a frown. I was really starting to hate that word. Why would I ensure that this very scenario happened? Even as I ask myself the question I already know the answer. Because it already happened to me and so now I must ensure it happens. Being responsible sucks. “Apparently I was left there when I was newly born. I got adopted by a perfectly nice family, but I was undeniably alien to them. My body temperature was different, and my intelligence was much higher than any normal human baby would have.” 

He closes his eyes, as if he’s trying to ward off the words that are about to come out of my mouth.

“So, as a child who wanted nothing more for her parents to accept her and not be frightened, I subconsciously adjusted my physiology to something that was far closer to human norms.” I continue. Now that I’ve started I’m going to finish it. “A few other things happened too, but the main point is that I put a lot of stress on my body while doing so.”

He swallows, face going pale. “You aren’t even a hundred yet, are you?” 

Looking down, I see that his hand is still lying there. I know he didn’t mean to hurt me. That this was just a huge communication error. But… Slowly, with great significance, I place my hand in his. A look accompanies this, one that I hope conveys that though I’m willing to talk about it, I’m not willing to let it all be swept under the rug. “You’re right. I’m 38.”

He starts to pull away, but I tighten my hold on his hand. “I’m so sorry Mabel.” The Doctor murmurs, placing his other hand over his face to hide his eyes. “Sorry I called you useless. Sorry about everything. I had no right to jump to conclusions like that. I know our circumstances are wibbly, but I let my frustration rule me anyways.” 

I wait until he peeks out from under his fingers at me, before smiling wryly. “You weren’t wrong though, Doctor. I am useless as I am.” 

“Nol!” He immediately denies. “There are so many other things that you can help with, just because you don’t have the technical knowledge just yet doesn’t mean that you are useless.”

“And there we are.” I respond. “I hope you can see the hypocrisy in what you just said.” 

The Doctor winces. His whole frame seems to melt, even his hair manages to be despondent. 

“I know I’m useless as I am. But, if you explain things I can pick them up pretty fast.” I lean in as though I’m sharing a secret with him. “And there’s always books to round out my knowledge when you aren’t there.” 

Not that I’ve been able to do a whole lot about that lately. Hopefully I get a chunk of time where I don’t jump for a while.

“I’ll do better. I promise.” The Doctor murmurs, scooting over the rest of the way. Our bodies are now touching from shoulder to hip. As much as I enjoy the feeling of him being next to me, the way it positions our hands is another story. 

His sharp eyes catch my resulting wince, of course they do, and he immediately repositions. Bringing my hand up to his eyes for a better look, something infinitely sad flickers over his face. “I forced you to do this.” 

Once again, I roll my eyes at him. “One, you didn’t force me to do anything. It was my decision to do what I did. And two.” Reaching over, I gently turn his head so I can see the damage. A feeling of regret fills me as his bruised nose and eye come into view. “Oh sweetheart. I’m so sorry.”

The Doctor’s mouth gapes open. “How can you apologize to me? You never would have hit me if I hadn’t tried to force myself into your mind.”

“I could have reacted in a way that wasn’t violent.” I mutter. Always, always with my temper. It seemed to be on a hair trigger lately and I had no idea why. 

“Mabel. You tried to talk at first, but I physically restrained you.” He swallows. “By law, Earth law or Gallifreyan, you were well within your rights to do whatever you needed to get me to let you go.” 

I can see that he isn’t going to back down from this line of thinking. But quite frankly, I didn’t want to talk about it anymore. I just wanted to get an ice pack for my hand and cuddle, then sleep for about 4 days or so. 

“Do you regret forcefully restraining me, as well as trying to enter my mind with the intention of doing harm?” I ask him. 

“Of course I do!” He immediately responds. 

“Then I forgive you.” The Doctor opens his mouth, but I hold up my non-occupied hand. “You’ve never given me any indication that you would ever hurt me in that way before, and I understand that the only reason you did is because you thought I had somehow harmed myself.” 

My nose crinkles up. “Well not harm myself. I was supposed to have been an imposter who harmed the person you thought was your wife. Who was in actuality me- I’m just going to stop now, cause even reciting the whole situation is making my head spin.”

The Doctor’s shoulders start shaking. I glance over quickly, he was laughing like I had hoped I would cause. 

“You impossible woman.” He says, exasperated. His eyes raise up to meet mine and they are fond indeed. “I hurt you and you try to cheer me up.” 

“We hurt each other, you impossible man.” I reply, fed up. “Now let’s both promise to try our best to do better, and then go cuddle. We’re both exhausted.” 

The Doctor laughs, scooping me up before I quite know what is happening and carrying me into our room. He sits down gently on the bed, then lays down, positioning me to lay down on top of him.

I breath in, the scent of him calming something deep inside of me. It loosens a knot of tension that I hadn’t realized was there. “So, bondmate and wife huh?” 

He sighs, hand coming up to stroke at my hair. “Spoilers.”

“Y’know, I’m really starting to dislike that word.” I mutter into his chest. 

“I’m not all that fond of it either.” The Doctor replies. 

I hum. My body relaxing even more on top of his. He shifts, pressing a kiss to my forehead. Then he starts speaking. It’s the same language as earlier. The Tardis still isn’t translating it, but I don’t mind. I drift off, the sound lulling me into sleep. 

~

Sometime later, two hours and twenty three minutes to be exact, I wake up. I’m still tired, so I’m not exactly sure of the reason. That is, I’m not sure until I shift and look down at my legs. I’m jumping. 

Gently, I maneuver my way off the Doctor. Then, hoping my luck will hold out, I hurry over to the desk. I quickly write him a note, managing to stick it on the pillow next to his face before I’m whisked off.

~

“Hey, I’m jumping but I didn’t have the heart to wake you up. See you next time sweetheart. <3”


	13. Never Never Land (The Curse of the Black Spot)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, I'm very sorry for the long delay. The last two weeks have been midterm weeks and I pretty much had to put everything else on the back burner so I could study and finish up homework before the break. The good news is that I now have a week of uninterrupted time to just relax. Yay!
> 
> This chapter is finally a rest chapter. Poor Mabel, I really have been running her ragged. 
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> ~RainingCoffee

I reappear, stumbling into someone. 

“Mabel!” Amy’s very familiar voice calls out. Her hands come up to steady me. 

I blink the spots out of my eyes, looking at her in confusion. “Amy?” 

She beams at me, folding me into a hug. “It’s so good to see you, I had wondered when you were going to pop in. The Doctor’s been pouting.” 

“It’s good to see you too Amy.” I respond. And it is. Bewildered as I am by her abrupt change in attitude, I’m not going to complain. I missed her. 

“Now listen, we are on a pirate ship right now and the Doctor is stalling as much as he can, but they are trying to make him walk the plank.” Amy explains, shrugging on a pirate coat and placing a trifold hat on her head. 

I frown. “And where is he now?” 

She grabs a sword in it’s sheath and ties it around her waist. “Where do you think he is? He’s on the plank.” 

“Of course he is.” I reply, exasperated, gesturing for her to go first. “Lead the way, Johnny Depp.”

Amy smirks, flicking her hair back, and climbing up the stairs. I follow her, surprised to note that there don’t seem to be any sailors trying to stop us. On the deck there is a small group surrounding the Doctor, who is indeed on the plank, but for a ship this size that seems improbable that they are the only crew. 

The Doctor seems to have noticed this too. “Where are the rest of the crew? This is a big ship. Big for five of you. I suppose the rest of them are hiding some place, and they're going to jump out and shout boo.”

Amy takes this as her cue. “Boo!” 

All the pirates turn around, startled. The Doctor’s face lights up. “Mabel!”

“Hello sweetheart!” I smile up at him, peripherally aware of Amy getting the pirates to drop their weapons. 

His face turns exasperated. “Amy, what are you doing?”

“Saving your life. Okay with that, are you?” Amy replies. 

One of the pirate’s steps forward. “Put down the sword. A sword could kill us all, girl.”

Amy rolls her eyes. “Yeah, thanks. That is actually why I'm pointing it at you.” 

Another sailor comes out of nowhere with a wooden stave, lunging at Amy. She lets out a noise of surprise, getting into an impromptu sword fight. I can’t just leave her to fight by herself, so I wade into the fray. Kicking at sensitive places and throwing an elbow where I can. 

“You have killed me!” One of the sailor’s cries. 

“No way, it’s just a scratch.” Amy scoffs. “What kind of rubbish pirates are you?”

A pirate, the first one who took a step forward, shakes his head. I’m going to call him beardy, cause his is the best one I can see. “One drop, that's all it takes. One drop of blood and she'll rise out of the ocean.”

“Come on, I barely even scratched him. What are you all in such a huff about?” Amy asks, swinging the sword around again. 

A pirate grabs her, making her drop the sword. Then for some reason Rory tries to grab the sword as it’s dropping, but he gets cut. “Ow!” 

Rory’s eyes widen in shock and he brings his hand up to show the Doctor. There’s a black spot that’s shown up in the middle of his hand. “Er, Doctor, what's happening to me?”

Beardy looks at Rory with regret. “She can smell the blood on your skin. She's marked you for death.” 

“She?” Rory asks.

“A demon, out there in the ocean.” Beardy elaborates. Thanks Beardy, that’s really helpful. 

“Okay. Groovy.” The Doctor says, wandering over and placing an arm around my shoulder. “So not just pirates today. We've managed to bagsy a ship where there's a demon popping in. Very efficient. I mean, if something's going to kill you, it's nice that it drops you a note to remind you.”

I elbow him, now doesn’t seem to be the time for gallows humor. The Doctor opens his mouth to reply, but he’s cut off by this absolutely gorgeous singing. 

“Quickly now, block out the sound.” One of the crew cries.

“What?” Rory looks around in confusion. 

“The creature. She charms all her victims with that song.” Beardy replies. So full of useful information, this Beardy fellow. 

“Oh, great.” Rory replies. “So put my fingers in my ears, that's your plan? Doctor, come on. Let's go-“

I’m sure he continues to say more, but my brain seems to turn wibbly. I sway into the Doctor, giggling. His arms steady me, and I can hear him asking me what’s wrong, but I’m not concerned with that right now. 

“You are gorgeous.” I tell him, patting his cheek. “I like the bowtie better than the stick of celery.”

“Er, thanks.” The Doctor responds, a deeply concerned look on his face. 

I would have said something to ease his concern, but at that moment a glowing green figure comes up from the ocean. My feet move by themselves, I want nothing more than to touch her, but the Doctor holds me back. 

“No! Please, let me touch her. I have to touch her.” I plead, but he doesn’t relent. The Doctor hooks an arm around my waist and drags me away, down into the ship. 

I kick my legs, wiggling in an attempt to make the Doctor drop me. He brushes a hand against my head and my perception tilts. The fogginess recedes. Enough for me to realize that the Doctor probably has a reason for keeping me away. I relax, helping rather than fighting now. 

“There we are.” The Doctor murmurs, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Better now?”

“Yeah.” I respond, shaking my head. “I’m still a little fuzzy but it’s more manageable now. What did you do?”

“Layered my consciousness on top of yours. Right now, half of what you are perceiving is what I am perceiving. It only works while we’re touching though. Stay close.” He advises, waiting until our hands are linked to drop his other hand from my forehead. 

I nod my understanding. The connection feels…almost sore? when I open it to send him gratitude. 

The Doctor, who had been in the process of turning back to beardy, whips his head back around to look at me. His face is distressed, hand clenching around mine. A quiet hiss escapes me, the hand he had a hold of was the same hand that I had used to hit him with earlier. It was still tender. 

His fingers loosen as though he’s going to let go, but I tighten my hold in return. I don’t know how long it’s going to take for the effects of whatever the creature out there did to me to wear off and I don’t fancy going under like I did before. 

“What is that thing?” Amy asks, still attempting to wrangle Rory into keeping still. 

“The legend.” Beardy says, scowling. “The siren. Many a merchant ship laden with treasure has fallen prey to her. She's been hunting us ever since we were becalmed, picking off the injured.”

“Like a shark. A shark can smell blood.” A pirate from behind beardy pipes up. 

The Doctor shakes his head, looking away from me. “Okay. Just like a shark, in a dress. And singing. And green? A green singing shark in an evening gown.”

“The ship is cursed!” Beardy insists.

“Yeah, right.” The Doctor scoffs, voice hard. “Cursed is big with humans. It means bad things are happening but you can't be bothered to find an explanation.”

“She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.” Rory murmurs, straining against the hold Amy has on him. 

“Actually, I think you'll find she isn't.” Amy mutters in response. She looks over at us and lowers her voice. “We have to leave right now.”

Beardy focuses on the Doctor. “That thing of yours really is a ship?”

“Well, it's not propelled by the wind.” The Doctor comments sarcastically. He looks around at the space we are in, and as such doesn’t see the fact the beardy pulls a gun out. I do, and I yank on his hand in response. The Doctor whirls around.

“Show me.” Beardy demands. “Weigh anchor. Make it sail.”

Pursing his lips, the Doctor studies the gun. “And the gun's back. You're big on the gun thing, aren't you. Freud would say you're compensating. Ever met Freud?”

One of Beardy’s cronies leans forward. “Leave the cursed ones, Captain. The creature can have them.”

Rory leans forward, eye unfocused. “Yes please.”

“We don't want the siren coming after us.” Beardy nods in agreement. 

Before I can open my mouth to argue that they aren’t leaving Rory behind, a pirate screams and pulls his leg from the couple inches of water that covers the floor.

“It’s a leech!” Amy cries. 

“Everyone out of the water!” The Doctor orders. He physically lifts me up out of the water first, then climbs out himself. 

I look at him in bemusement. The siren already had a foothold in my mind, there was no reason to make sure I got out first. 

“It's bitten me. I'm bleeding.” The pirate who had a leech on his leg sounds devastated. 

“She wants blood.” The Doctor mumbles, hand squeezing mine. “Why does she want blood?”

“I don’t think she does.” I respond. 

“What were you saying about leaving the cursed ones behind?” Amy spitefully asks the pirate who just got bit.

“It's okay, we're safe down here. No curse is getting through three solid inches of timber.” The Doctor says. 

The green lady pops out of the water, calm now that no one is in it, and I elbow the Doctor. 

“Oh!” The Doctor states. “Ah. Hello again.”

I can feel whatever she does trying to put me under again, but the Doctor’s trick is still working. Amy has a hold of Rory, but no one thinks to grab the pirate who had gotten bitten by a leech. He stumbles towards the lady despite our protests. Then he gets distributed into dust, the only thing left of him being his hat. 

The Doctor yanks me back, as if he thinks I’m going to be next. Which is a valid concern, seeing as though I was affected by her earlier. We all clamber our way out of the room, the haunting song of the siren behind us dogging our footsteps. 

Beardy leads us to what looks like sleeping quarters. The Doctor and I are the last one in, closing the door behind us. 

Amy leans in. “Safe?”

“I have my good days and my bad days.” The Doctor mutters back.

“How did she get in?” Beardy asks. 

The Doctor scans the room around us with his screwdriver. “Bilge water. She's using water like a portal, a door. She can materialize through a single drop.” He hypothesizes. “We need to go somewhere with no water.”

“Well, thank God we're not in the middle of the ocean.” Amy scoffs. Good old Amy, I really have missed her. 

“Did you see her eyes?” Rory asks. “Like crystal pools.”

Rolling her eyes, Amy wags a finger in his face. “You are in enough trouble.”

Beardy cuts in, looking serious. “The magazine.”

“What?” Amy asks. 

“He means the armory where the powder's stored.” The Doctor clarifies. 

“It's dry as a bone.” Beardy confirms. 

“Good.” I say, stepping forward.” Let's go there.”

Beardy raises his gun again, pointing it at me this time. “I give the orders.”

The Doctor tenses behind me, but I squeeze his hand. “Men, such fragile egos.” I comment, raising an eyebrow. “I’m not trying to take over your crew, Pirate, and for that matter neither is the Doctor. We are trying to help. Now, by all means, lead us to the magazine.” 

Scowling, Beardy turns around and stalks off in another direction. 

I let myself have a moment where I just breathe. I’m surprised that worked. The Doctor is oozing disapproval next to me, but I don’t for one second doubt that he would have done something similar so I don’t pay him much mind. 

We take off in the direction the Beardy went, but something seems to be the matter. One of the pirates, the keeper of the keys I guess, is looking through his key ring. 

“Quickly, man.” Beardy insists. 

“I can't find the key.” The pirate tells him, looking upset. “Tis gone, Cap'n.”

Beardy looks confused. “How can it have gone?”

Eyeing the lock, the Doctor takes a step forward and pushes against the door. It creaks open slowly. “Seems like someone else had the same idea.”

With the Doctor and I leading the charge, the rest slowly file into the room. One pirate grabs a lantern.

“Barricade the door.” Beardy orders, before turning his head and looking over at a pirate who is in the process of grabbing a lantern. “Careful of that lantern. Every barrel is full of powder.”

Looking around, the Doctor sing songs. “Who's been sleeping in my gun room?”

A cough answers him. We exchange a look. 

Beardy slowly walks up to a barrel and a second later a cough comes from it again. He quickly lifts the lid and grabs whoever is inside, pulling them out and shaking them. “You fool! You fool, boy. What are you doing here?”

“Who is he?” The Doctor asks me. “What, he's not one of the crew?”

No.” Beardy responds. I can’t see his face, but his voice is stern. “He's my son. What in God's name possessed you, boy? Your mother will be searching for you.” The boy looks away and my heart drops. Beardy also seems to get it. “When?”

“Last winter.” The boy coughs. “Fever. She told me all about you. How you were a Captain in the Navy. An honorable man, she said. How I'd be proud to know you. I've come to join your crew.”

“I don't want you here.” Beardy tells the boy. 

The boy looks hurt as he stifles another cough. “You can't send me back. It's too late. We're a hundred miles from home.”

“It's dangerous here.” Beardy insists. “There is a monster aboard. She leaves a mark on men's skin.”

“The black spot?” The boy asks, turning his hand over and showing us his palm. It has a black spot just like I do. 

Beardy stands up abruptly and takes the boy over into a corner. 

I reach out to the Doctor mentally, as well as turn to look at him. He meets me halfway, sharing his resolve. This child will not die. Not today. 

Then the Doctor leads me over to a barrel and makes me sit down. His touch on my hand gentles, and he waits a beat. When whatever the siren did to me earlier doesn’t come back, he let’s go entirely only to shift and twist my hand around so he can see the damage. 

My hand is swollen, one knuckle looking a little crooked. There is a light amount of bruising blooming along the area.

Amy whistles. “Wow, that must have been quite the punch. Bet whoever was on the other end is feeling that.” 

“Oh.” The Doctor murmurs, voice an octave deeper than normal. “He sure did, in more ways than one.” 

Rory blinks, seeming more aware. He focuses on me and frowns in concern. “Are you sure you’re okay, Mabel?”

“Just tired.” I respond, resigned to the Doctor’s hovering. He lifts up my sleeve next, looking infinitely sad at the sight of the vivid bruises that his previous self left. I nudge him mentally, waiting until he looks up to smile my best smile at him. 

His lips twitch in response, but I don’t get anything more than that. Climbing up on the barrel next to me, the Doctor seems content to stay silent. 

I’m still exhausted, and now all I want to do is cuddle with my partner, but the atmosphere doesn’t seem to be conducive for it now. So instead, I just lean against his arm, fingers twining around the sleeve of his jacket. 

“I see you’re feeling better.” I say to Rory. 

Rory nods, looking over at Amy who smiles back at him. There is something different about him. He seems more solid somehow? Definitely more confident in his relationship with Amy. A quick glance down at their fingers show matching rings. Ahh, they finally got married. 

“There's nothing wrong with the boy.” Beardy growls, stalking back over. “He has no scars.”

“Yep. Ignore my last theory.” The Doctor responds, voice low. 

Amy pats him on the leg. “He has his good days and his bad days.”

“It's not just blood.” The Doctor continues, contemplative. “She's coming for all the sick and wounded, like a hunter chooses the weakest animal.”

“Okay, look, the boy has a fever.” Amy states, side eyeing the Doctor. “And the siren knows it.”

“Humans. Second-rate. Damage too easily. It's only a matter of time before everyone gets bruised.” The Doctor starts, looking worried. He focuses his attention on Beardy. “My ship, it can sail us all away from here. You and me and Mabel, we fetch it. Let's go.” He pulls me with him as he stands up.

Unfortunately, Beardy has decided to be an ass again and is once again pointing a gun at us. “You're not the Captain here, remember.”

Before the Doctor has a chance to respond, I notice Beardy’s son open the top of a barrel. It has what looks to be some sort of liquid inside. I lunge for the barrel just as the Siren pops up, reaching for the boy. Grabbing the lid, I do my best to tune out the singing but I can already feel it affecting me. The Doctor jumps in then, finally registering what is happening, and together we manage to force the siren back down into the water. 

“The water's dangerous.” Beardy states, gesturing towards the barrel with his gun. “That's how she gets through. One touch of her hand and you're a dead man.”

“We're all cursed if we stay aboard.” One of the other pirates insist. 

“It's not a curse. Curse means game over.” The Doctor replies, taking a step towards the pirate. His voice is lowered a register in his anger. “Curse means we're helpless. We are not helpless.” He turns to Beardy. “Captain, what's our next move?”

Beardy looks startled that the Doctor is addressing him, then the look turns contemplative. He quickly pulls a silver metal medallion on a string from around his own neck and puts it over his son’s neck. The boy looks so very pleased at that small bit of attention. 

Turning to his men, Beardy looks at them with determination. “Wait with the boy.”

The same pirate as earlier takes a step forward, his face is not pleased. “Captain, we're all in danger here.”

“I said wait.” Beardy reiterates. “And barricade the door after we've gone.”

“Sure you want to go?” Amy asks, sidling up to us. 

“We have to get Rory and Toby away.” The Doctor replies, eyes flickering towards me. And Mabel. I’m the unspoken name in the room. “She's out there now, licking her lips, boiling a saucepan, grating cheese.”

“Okay.” Amy says, clearly reluctant. “Well, remember, if you get an itch, don't scratch too hard.”

“We've all got to go some time. There are worse ways than having your face snogged off by a dodgy mermaid.” The Doctor replies, sharing a smile with Rory. 

“Oi!” I exclaim, smacking him. 

He smirks in my direction, a smug little thing. It only makes me itch to smack him properly, and by the widening of his smile, he can tell. 

Beardy rolls his eyes and proceeds out the door. The Doctor and I follow, making sure said door is closed behind us. 

“Do you want to draw lots for who's in charge, then?” Beardy whispers, looking over his shoulder. 

“Darkness? Demon?” The Doctor asks, reaching back to grab my hand. “You can have first go.”

Beardy looks unsurprised and continues on through the darkness. He manages to trip, and the Doctor just barely catches him before his hand goes through a nail. 

“Care-ful.” The Doctor breathes out, sharing a look with Beardy. 

“Nearly.” Beardy nods, looking relieved. 

After that, we make it to the Tardis surprisingly easy. The Doctor opens the doors and rushes inside, leaving me to deal with the Tardis shock. 

“By all the-“ Beardy gasps, awed. 

“Let me stop you there.” The Doctor calls from the console, not abandoning me to the Tardis shock like I had thought he was. “Bigger on the inside. Don't mind, do you, if we just skip to the end of that moment? Oh, and sorry I lied, by the way, when I said yours was bigger. Kitchen that way. Choice of bathrooms there, there, there.” He even throws in gestures, what a show off.

I can’t help but smile, closing the door behind me as Beardy takes a few steps deeper into the interior. His awe reminds me of how I felt in the beginning. Nowadays I kind of took the Tardis and all this crazy for granted. 

Beardy meanders his way up to where the Doctor is next to the console. “What's this do?” He asks, pointing at the red lever that starts the dematerialization sequence. 

“That does very, very complicated.” The Doctor says, lunging towards the lever like Beardy is going to try pulling it. Upon realizing the same thing I realized earlier, that Beardy has no desire to pull the lever, he starts showing off a bit. “That does sophisticated. That does whoa, amazing, And that does whizz, bang, far too technical to explain!”

“Wheel?” Beardy asks, raising an eyebrow as he points to a spinning ball with probes coming off of it. 

“Atom accelerator.” The Doctor responds. 

Beardy’s eyebrow gets higher, his expression becoming even more unimpressed. “It steers the thing.”

“No!” The Doctor exclaims, before grimacing. “Sort of. Yes.”

“Wheel. Telescope. Astrolabe. Compass.” Beardy states, pointing at different things around the console. He gives the Doctor a pointed look. “A ship's a ship.”

I can’t help but laugh. The Doctor’s resulting look of betrayal in my direction is totally worth it. “I mean, Beardy’s really got you there sweetheart.”

“Oi! He does not-“ The Doctor starts, before cutting himself off and mouthing the word Beardy to himself. Shaking his head, he looks over at Beardy before shrugging. Ha! He sees it too. 

“Beardy?” Beardy asks, sounding confused. 

“Oh, yeah.” I mutter, sort of embarrassed. “You know how I showed up later than everyone else? Well it’s not like I got anybody’s name. You were talking the most and you had a beard so I just started calling you Beardy in my head.”

I can see the Doctor facepalm out of the corner of my eye and I can instantly feel a blush form on my face in response. “Oi, Mister!”

The Doctor pulls his hand from his face and gives me an innocent look. One that I don’t buy for a second. I narrow my eyes in return.

Beardy scoffs, directing my attention back to him. He has half of a smirk on his face. “You two have been tied for a long while I see.” Both of our mouths open, but he doesn’t give us a chance to respond. “And the name is Avery. It’s better then Beardy at the very least.”

“Avery, huh?” I smile at him from the other side of the console. “It’s nice to meet you Avery.”

Clearing his throat, the Doctor pulls the attention back to himself. “This is how the professionals do it.” He states, cockily pulling the lever to send us off. 

The time rotor..skips? Like it’s trying to take off, but nothing is happening. The Doctor’s hurriedly puts the lever back down. “Er, it's stuck. Not responding.”

“What?” Stuck? I’ve never heard her make that noise before. 

“Is it becalmed?” Avery asks.

“Mmm hmm. Yeah, apparently. That's new.” The Doctor murmurs off handedly. Avery grimaces and nods to himself. The Doctor catches it and frowns. “You had to gloat, didn't you?”

Avery looks up, quickly denying it. “I'm not gloating.”

“I saw that look just now. Ha, ha, his ship is rubbish.” The Doctor gestures, scoffing. 

“True.” Avery admits. 

“I’ve never heard her do that before.” I murmur, sidling up to the Doctor as he frantically types something into the console. 

The Doctor hums noncommittedly. Looking frustrated at the readings he’s receiving. “It can't get a lock on the plane.”

Avery looks over in confusion. “The what?”

Rubbing his face, the Doctor moves around the console to get closer to Avery. “The space we travel in. The ocean. Sort of ocean but not water. The Tardis can't see. It's sulking because it thinks the space doesn't exist. Without a plane to lock onto we're not going anywhere.”

“So something’s jamming the Tardis? Like she’s reading that we aren’t anywhere right now?” I try and work out what’s going on. 

“More or less.” The Doctor replies, grimacing in my direction. 

“I'm confused.” Avery admits. 

“Yeah, well, it's a big club.” The Doctor states. “We should get T-shirts.”

The Tardis must not like that because she skips again and this time it continues. The whole console room jerks, throwing us around. 

“What's happening?” The Doctor cries, looking around the room in confusion. 

That’s super discouraging. I’m so used to the Doctor knowing what’s going on, at least in connection to knowledge of the Tardis, that him being as confused as the rest of us comes as somewhat of a shock to me. 

The Doctor lunges for the controls, pulling levers and pushing buttons. Nothing happens, and the Tardis continues to skip. “Okay, she's had her little sulk. Now she's heading for the full-on screaming tantrum!”

“Can you fix it?” Avery demands, hands on the console just trying to keep him steady as the ship shakes.

“I don’t think the Tardis is doing this on purpose.” I shout to be heard over the noise. 

Frustrated, the Doctor hits another button. “The parametric engines are jammed. Orthogonal vector's gone.” Flailing, he looks over at Avery with a frown. “I'm almost out of ideas.”

Avery looks up. “Almost?”

“Well, we could try stroking her and singing her a song.” The Doctor responds. It’s hard to tell if he’s being sarcastic or not. 

“Will that help?” Avery asks in disbelief. 

I cannot hold back the full body eye roll the two of them are causing me. “She’s trying to dematerialize you idiots, the only reason she isn’t is because for some reason she doesn’t want us in here when she does so.”

“We could end up anywhere!” The Doctor states, tone upset. 

Avery looks between the two of us. “That sounds bad!”

“Yes, it is! Out!” The Doctor states, running around the console and grabbing Avery’s arm. “Out now! Abandon ship! Abandon ship!”

I’m two steps behind them, but just as the two of them make it out of her doors, they shut in my face. 

“Mabel!” I can hear the Doctor yelling through the doors.

Pulling on the handle does nothing so I bang on the door. “Doctor!” But it is to late. The ominous green glow coming from outside the doors already tells me all I need to know. 

My heart pounds as I take a step away. There is no way I’m stepping outside of those doors, not with the siren outside. At least she won’t be able to get me in here. No standing puddles of water as far as I could see. At least not in here and I had a feeling that the Tardis would help me if it came to it. 

Or at least I had been under that impression until the green glow starts to come from behind me. I turn around in apprehension, and there she is. Her song starts up, and there is no Doctor here to help me this time. 

She really is quite beautiful. 

I take a step closer and she smiles, holding a hand out for me. What can I do but take those last few steps and touch her? 

My world disintegrates. 

xxxx

There are fingers cupping my cheek. 

That’s the first thing that penetrates the darkness. Fingers cupping my cheek, then the press of a forehead against mine. A spark of contact. Relief. 

I open my eyes and the sight of the Doctor is like a balm to my soul. Smiling, I lean into the hand at my cheek. “Doctor.”

“Mabel.” He breathes out. Relief is permeating everything. Oh, that’s his relief. 

I blink, trying to focus. “Doctor. The Tardis took off, the siren got in. I touched her.”

The Doctor helps me sit up, taking off something strapped to my throat. “I know. I was wrong earlier. She wasn’t trying to kill anyone. It’s an interface for an automated sickbay. She was just trying to keep everyone alive.” 

Going after at the sick and wounded. Makes sense. He presses something of the side of the table I’m sitting on and I can’t restrain a gasp as the aches from my hand and arms come rushing back. 

“I know, I’m sorry.” The Doctor murmurs, crowding in close and pressing his forehead against mine once more. “Once we get you back on the Tardis, we’ll go to the medbay and get you healed.” 

I send him a grateful smile, then scan the room. There seems to be dozens of people laying on tables just like mine. Avery is standing over someone who looks like his son. Amy is not too far away from us, talking to Rory, who is laying on his own table. 

The Doctor follows my gaze. His voice lowers even more, a whisper I almost can’t hear. “He’s going to be more difficult. He was mostly drowned when the siren got to him. As soon as we take the life support off Amy is going to have to resuscitate him.”

I clamp my hand down on his arm, hard. He winces in response, but nods. We are on the same wavelength then. That’s good. 

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” I ask, sliding off the table and sending a smile in the Doctor’s direction as he steadies me when I stumble. 

“We have to send this ship back into space.” The Doctor states. “Imagine if the Siren got ashore. She would have to process every injured human.”

“What about Toby?” Avery asks, looking up from his son’s sleeping form. 

The Doctor’s eyes flicker. “I'm sorry. Typhoid fever. Once he returns it's only a matter of time.”

“What if I stay with him, here.” Avery suggests. He sounds as if he’s already made up his mind and he’s only informing us for his own sake. “The Siren will look after him. I can't go back to England. And what home does he have now, if not with me?”

I study him. He seems sincere in his desire to do this. I suppose there is only one thing left to ask then. “Well then, do you think you can sail this thing?”

Avery barks out a laugh. Sending a look towards the Doctor, he leans forward towards me. “Just point me to the atom accelerator.”

The Doctor laughs as well, clasping Avery on the arm for a second. Pulling back, we both turn towards Amy and Rory. 

“Getting yourself into trouble again?” I tease Rory as we come up to the bed he’s laying on. 

“You know me.” He responds, smiling a little awkwardly. Directing his attention to Amy, he turns serious. “I know you can do this. Of course, if you muck it up I am going to be really cross.” He pauses, taking a deep breath. “And dead.”

Amy smiles, brave in the face of her own tears. “I'll see you in a minute.”

The Doctor rips off the life support brace around Rory’s chest and he immediately gasps, the sound of a flatline fills the room. 

We all move quickly after that. Amy and the Doctor brace Rory between themselves and I rush to get the door of the Tardis open. Once inside, they gently lower him to the ground and Amy immediately starts CPR. 

“Come on. Come on, Rory.” The Doctor murmurs, taking a hold of my hand and squeezing. “Not here. Not this way. Not today.”

Several rounds of compressions and breathing commences, before Amy sobs. “He trusted me. He trusted me to save him.”

“You still can, keep trying.” I urge her, my own heart in my throat. 

Amy makes a frustrated noise, increasing the pressure behind the compressions. “Please, please, please wake up.” Each word is accompanied by a chest compression. “Wake up. Come on. Come on!”

The Doctor lowers his head, eyes closing. 

Sitting back, Amy’s face crumples from the force of her tears. I lean against the Doctor’s shoulder, my own tears forming. 

Suddenly, Rory coughs. Water dribbles from the side of his mouth and I lunge forward, turning him to the side so he doesn’t choke anymore. 

Amy throws her arms around him, sobbing into his chest. “Amy. Amy, you did it.” Rory’s arms go around her in return. “You did it!”

I sit back on my heels, letting out a breath of relief. 

“Well then!” The Doctor exclaims jumping up. He reaches down and pulls me up as well. “I think it’s time to send our new friends off world, don’t you?”

“You do that, I’ll be right back.” I murmur, glancing over towards Amy and Rory who are still huddled next to each other. Hurrying down the hallway, I slip into the first door I see, which looks to be a bedroom. There is a convenient robe thrown on the bed and I grab that before heading back towards the console room. 

The Tardis jerks slightly, I assume we’ve managed to send the ship off into atmosphere and we’re departing ourselves. Emerging from the hallway into the light shows the Doctor fiddling with something near the console, so my assumption is probably correct. 

I throw the robe over Rory and Amy’s head, and smile at the complaints that causes. “Hey now, I figured you might want to cover up a bit.”

Rory manages to get the material off his head, with Amy surfacing a second later. He shrugs, slipping the robe on and sending me a smile. “Thanks, Mabel.”

Amy stands up, helping Rory to his feet, then leaning into him with a smile. 

“It’s good to see the two of you are alright. I was worried there for a while.” I murmur. The two of them look so very happy together. It’s a sight for sore eyes after the last time I saw them together. 

Amy hums, looking up at Rory. He only has eyes for her in return.

“Alright.” I state, shooing them away. “Alright, that’s enough of that. You two can go be smoopy somewhere else.”

Amy laughs, smirking at me over her shoulder as they walk up the stairs. I roll my eyes. Refocusing on Rory, Amy nudges him in the arm. “I thought I was an excellent pirate.” 

Rory leans in, a sparkle in his eye. “I thought you were an excellent nurse.”

“Easy, tiger.” Amy teases before looking back down at us. “Goodnight, Mabel, Doctor.”

“Goodnight Amy.” I respond, the Doctor echoing me with a, “Goodnight Amelia.”

I send a confused look over to the Doctor. Since when has he ever called her Amelia. Amy seems to think it’s weird too because she narrows her eyes at him. “You only call me Amelia when you're worrying about me.”

“I always worry about you.” Is the serious response. 

“Mutual.” Amy breathes, her eyes going distant. 

The Doctor flicks his eyes in her direction. His voice takes on the tone of a scolding parent. “Go to bed, Pond.”

Amy makes a face, but turns to do what he says. 

I walk over to the Doctor’s side of the Tardis. He frowns at me, but doesn’t turn the monitor off. Which allows me to see the fact that he’s performing a pregnancy test on Amy, and it keeps flickering between pregnant and not pregnant. 

“What?” I ask him, my voice flat. 

“I don’t know yet.” He replies, voice as upset as I feel. 

Staring at the monitor, my eyes start to sting as water wells up. It’s been such a long time since I was last able to just sit and stop, at least that’s what it feels like. And now there was something wrong with little Amelia. 

The Doctor tugs me gently into his arms. “Hey now, it’s okay.”

I hide my face against his shoulder. “Sorry, Sorry.” I mumble. “I don’t know why I’m so emotional right now.”

“I do.” He replies, exasperated. “When was the last time you ate or slept? Or just got a chance to sit and not do anything?”

“It’s been longer than I’d like.” I admit, closing my eyes and allowing myself to lean into the embrace. 

The Doctor tsks, then in a whirlwind of production he proceeds to heal me, feed me, make me shower, and bundle me up in a comfy pair of pajamas before I quite know what’s going on. 

I rub my hand against the corner of my eyes, sitting in oversized pajamas on the bed and feeling miserable. Exhaustion pulls at me, but I’m stubbornly waiting for the Doctor to be done with his own shower before I let it win. 

Fortunately, it only takes him another 2 minutes for the shower, and after a brief round with the towel on his hair, he climbs into bed. 

Immediately, I curl up into his side, my arm reaching across his chest. He hums, a soothing rumble kicking up in his chest. 

My body liquifies, tension fading and leaving a peaceful feeling instead.

The Doctor shifts, arm coming out and effortlessly moving me so that instead of me being curling into his side, I’m now stretched out on top of him. 

It’s exactly what I needed. I drift off like a light.

xxxx

The feeling of someone gently running their fingers through my hair brings me out of my deep sleep. I groan in annoyance, burying myself deeper into the blankets to get away. 

The Doctor laughs. The bed shifts as he moves and a second later my comforter is pulled from overtop of me. 

“No.” I whine, stubbornly keeping my eyes closed. 

His fingers run down my back, which feels really good until he hits my side. My resulting twitch must have tipped him off, or maybe he already knew, but the Doctor takes advantage of it either way. 

I contort wildly, trying to escape the torturous fingers assaulting me. It doesn’t work, and soon the Doctor has me giggling wildly as he continues his assault.

“Okay!” I shout breathlessly. “I give, I give. I’m up now.” 

The Doctors changes his stroking from light to firm, making the touch feel more like a caress. I roll over and pout at him. My face is undoubtedly flushed and messy, eyes wet with tears of laughter but the resulting bleed over of arousal and affection that I get from the Doctor in response is gratifying none the less. 

He leans down, hand coming up to cup my jaw. The kiss is soft, exploratory, until he does something with his tongue that makes me moan in response. Then the Doctor surges forward, dominating the kiss. His hand at my neck allows him to change the angle just as he likes. It’s…electric. 

When he pulls away, I lean up to follow him. I manage to coax a few more kisses from him, before the Doctor pulls back successfully this time.

“Mabel.” The Doctor murmurs. 

I hum in response, noting with displeasure that at some point the Doctor seems to have gotten dressed. 

He notices my gaze, of course he does, and laughs. “I was up after three hours dear, you slept for twelve.”

“Twelve?” I grimace. “No wonder I feel so foggy still.”

“You needed it.” The Doctor comments. “I could feel how exhausted you were.”

I aim a somewhat pointed look in his direction. “If I needed so much sleep why didn’t you let me wake up naturally?” 

A rueful smile is my response. “I made you breakfast?” He offers. 

“Breakfast huh?” That sounds wonderful.

“Of course!” The Doctor smirks, tapping me on the nose. “One must spoil their partner every now and again.”

I smile, feeling touched at the gesture. Hopefully I get to stay here for a while. It’s been nothing but jumping around and I desperately need some kind of substance to keep me going. 

His smirk flows into something gentler. Waiting until I get up off the bed, he gallantly offers me his arm, almost tripping he bends over so far. I stifle a laugh and take his arm anyways. 

In short order, I’m bustled into the kitchen and sat in front of a mouthwatering omelet the size of my plate and some peanut butter toast. A glass of cold milk follows soon after, and the Doctor sits down beside me looking pleased with himself. 

I smile, a secret little thing, fond and touched in equal measure. The Doctor is taking care of me. Making sure I sleep and eat. 

Spontaneously, I lean over and kiss him. Thoroughly, and completely. Then I busy myself with eating the food he made me, ignoring the dumbfounded look on his face. 

The Doctor’s mouth flaps open and closed, a blush blooming across the bridge of his nose. “What was that for?” 

“For taking care of me.” I respond. “For being a good…partner.” 

“Braveheart Mabel.” He says, blush fading as his attention focuses on me. His expression is intense “Are you done running now?” 

I hold back the blasé response that wants to fall out of my mouth and actually think about it. I’ve been jumping from place to place without ever sitting down and hashing out just what the Doctor is to me. The Doctor himself has been letting me dictate the pace, going as far as I’ll let him and pulling back when it’s clear I’m not ready for something. 

“I can’t promise that I won’t run for a little bit longer.” I start, words coming out slowly. “But I’m going to attempt not to.” 

The Doctor hums. There is no expectation on his face, just understanding. 

Smiling, I lean over to kiss him again. This time, he doesn’t look confused, or startled. There is no resulting blush on his face. Only the self-assurance of a man who has kissed the same person many times before. 

He pulls away, shooing me towards my plate. Taking the hint, I finish the meal he was sweet enough to make for me. 

“So what’s on the agenda for today?” I ask, leaning back in my seat. 

“Nothing.” The Doctor replies. 

That throws me for a loop. “Huh?” 

Sighing in exasperation, he focuses on me. “Mabel, you just slept for 12 hours and then ate half of your body weight in eggs. You’ve clearly been pushing yourself. Today is a rest day.” 

I frown. “But-“ 

“Nope.” The Doctor cuts me off, raising a hand to stop the words I try to say next. “No complaining. Today is a day for Mabel.”

My frown falls into a pout, and the Doctor beams because he can feel the fact I’m giving in. Doesn’t mean I can’t grumble though. “What kind of day is a Mabel day? It sounds ridiculous.” 

“Ahh, what’s the use of being an adult if you can’t be ridiculous sometimes?” He responds. 

A scoff comes from the kitchen door. “You just said that cause you are ridiculous all the time.” Amy tells him. 

The Doctor hums. “And why can’t both of those reasons be true?” 

Rory laughs, nudging Amy aside so he can come inside the kitchen as well. The Doctor gestures towards the counter, where a plate of scrambled eggs is waiting. There is also a bag of bread out that’s more than ready to be toasted. Amy and Rory murmur their thanks and then busy themselves with making a plate of their own. 

I turn back towards the Doctor. “Are you not going to eat?”

“I ate when I woke up, I don’t need more food now.” He murmurs back, picking up my hand and placing a kiss on it. He doesn’t let go after that, just threads our fingers back together as he sets it down. 

I look at our hands, blush blooming across the bridge of my nose. He’s being very casually touchy today and I’m starting to get to the point where I don’t quite know what to do with it. I promised though, that I’d try to not run away anymore. It’s not as though I don’t like it, I do. It’s just that I’m still not used to this kind of casual intimacy. 

A glance in his direction shows that he’s very carefully not looking in my direction, though the small tilt in my lips tells me that he’s at least somewhat aware of what’s going through my head right now. 

“What’s this?” Amy asks in a teasing way, sitting down with a plate of food. Rory sits down next to her with his own. “Is that a blush I see?”

Which only causes my cheeks to get redder. “Shut up, Pond.” I mutter. Though I make it a point to not let go of his hand. 

“What?” The response is said with glee. “You are, look Rory she’s blushing fire engine red.”

Rory smiles, just a little, before turning towards Amy. “I think that’s enough Amy.”

Amy pouts. “But she’s so fun to tease when she’s young.” 

“I still older than you are at this point in time.” I retort, raising an eyebrow. All I get in response to that is a cheeky grin. 

My blush fades slowly as I get used to the feeling. I lean back against the Doctor, just enjoying the flow of chatter around the table. 

Amy and Rory finish their own meal, then after discovering that today will be a slow day, head off to go find the swimming pool. I’m not feeling swimming right now, and after Rory almost drowned yesterday I’m not quite sure how they are either but to each their own. I head off in the direction of the library instead, the Doctor following along and rambling about one thing or another. 

It does indeed end up being a slow day. Full of good books and cuddles. Though I still have the persistent nagging feeling I’m going to jump away as soon as I relax. 

Fortunately, it seems like I’m lucky today. I don’t jump, and I don’t jump the next day, or the next. 

I actually get to stay for several weeks. After jumping around so much, I guess my energy was a little worn out. At least that was the explanation that the Doctor gave me when I expressed my confusion. 

I definitely wasn’t going to complain.


	14. Are you my mummy? (Empty child/Doctor dances)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was really fun to write.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> ~RainingCoffee

“You have to connect the hydrocometer into the supercooling conduit first, then you are able to connect it to the dematerialization circuit.” The Doctor states, ignoring the shower of sparks that explodes from the wires above his head. 

I look at him through a pair of googles, unimpressed. “You know I have no idea what those words mean without context.” He opens his mouth to respond but I cut him off. “Why don’t you just show me, I get things easier like that.”

He gestures for me to come closer, so I get out of the sling I’m in and carefully walk around the round holes in the ground to get to him. We are underneath the Tardis right now, and there are bundles of wires going every which way. 

Brushing aside my frustration, I focus on the instructions the Doctor is giving me, paying close attention to the way his hands are connecting and disconnecting the components. 

Humming in concentration, I wait for him to complete the operation. Once he’s finished I follow the path his hands had taken. The process makes so much more sense now that I have my hands physically on the components instead of just hearing about it. 

The Doctor’s pride washes over me and he plants a kiss to the side of my head. “Perfect!” 

I flush slightly in response, pleased with the praise before shaking it off and looking at the Doctor with determination. “Show me something else.”

He smirks, eyes glinting, and puts me to work.

That’s how many of the days progress as I wait to jump again. I’m bound and determined to learn about this world now, instead of just hiding behind the Doctor’s knowledge and my own intuition. 

This Doctor doesn’t seem to mind. He’s always willing to share his knowledge with me, and very rarely gets frustrated when I don’t know anything. 

It’s a nice change from his younger self calling me useless if I’m to be honest. 

And it’s nice to feel like I’m actually helpful. I’m tired of just standing around when we go somewhere. 

When I mention that to him, the Doctor gets a sad look on his face. 

“What?” I ask. 

“Don’t be so quick to throw yourself out into the fray Mabel.” He murmurs. “You don’t always have to be the one doing something. There’s two of us, we can share responsibility.” 

I frown at him. “I know that. But it’s only been you who’s been taking charge of everything. I don’t want-“ I pause, not entirely sure how to phrase what I want to say without making him feel bad. “The situation that happened before, no one was hurt by the fact I didn’t have the knowledge to do what needed to be done. I want to learn as much as I can to prevent something like that from happening in the future.” 

The Doctor looks at me, eyes kind, and I know he heard the words that I censored. The ‘I don’t want you to have a reason to call me useless ever again.’

Averting my eyes from his own, I give the wires in front of me far more attention than they deserve. I forget sometimes that he’s known me for far longer than I’ve known him. The fact that he can see through me so easily makes me want to go and hide. 

He seems to realize this because he doesn’t try to push, just gives me more work to do.

And so I learn, absorbing the information like a sponge. 

xxxx

Several weeks after I jumped to this Doctor, I finally feel the slight warmth that indicates I was leaving. I was grateful for the warning, it allowed me to set down the plate I was carrying and wave goodbye to the Doctor. 

He waves back, smiling, and his ‘Have fun dear!’ rings in my ears as the world around me goes bright.

I reappear in the next area, stumbling over something on the ground and painfully tripping my way to the floor.

“Mabel!” I hear the Doctor’s voice come from the other side of the room. 

I groan in response, blinking the spots from my eyes and blearily frowning at the ceiling. Footsteps hurry in my direction, and then the Doctor’s head pops into view. 

“What’re you doin’ down there?” He asks, confused. 

“Oh y’know, I just got here and thought I’d take a nice trip. It didn’t quite go the way I thought it would, though.” I reply sarcastically. 

The Doctor’s lips twitch as he reaches out a hand to help me up. 

Once upright, I lean in and kiss him hello. “Hello sweetheart!”

He looks pleased. “Hello dear, where are we for you?” 

I hum in contemplation. “The last time I saw this you was the death of the Earth.”

“Early days then.” The Doctor responds, his mood not dropping at the revelation like I sort of thought it might. 

“Yeah.” I reply, pleased that he doesn’t mind. “The you I was just with was teaching me to do maintenance on the Tardis.”

His eyes roam over my face, hand coming up to swipe at something on my forehead. “I can see that.” He shows it to me. It’s grease. 

I laugh, looking down at my grimy clothes. “I suppose I should go take a shower.” 

“Yes, probably a good idea.” The Doctor says, stepping aside so I can walk by. 

I start to walk off, but I look over my shoulder to meet his eyes as I do so. “I might just need some help washing my back.”

The Doctor’s mouth twitches up into a smirk. I can feel his interest, and with two quick steps he’s matching my pace down the hallway. “I think I can help you with that.

And well, that’s exactly what he does.

Xxxx

Refreshed and squeaky clean from our shower detour, the Doctor and I make our way towards the kitchen. 

Rose is already there, blinking blearily at us over her cup of tea. I smile, waving hello. She groans in response. “No, too cheerful. Go be happy somewhere else.”

My smile wavers, and I look back to the Doctor in confusion. ‘Rough adventure’ He mouths while Rose’s head is down. Ohh. 

I pat Rose on the shoulder as I walk by on my way to the counter, but ultimately decide to let her be. Deciding on a banana, I grab one for the Doctor as well, throwing it over to him. 

Two cups of tea later, the growly grinch that Rose has turned into disappears and the normal girl I’m used to emerges.

Just in time too, as the Tardis jerks and the lights dim, an alarm sounding. “What the hell is that?”

“It's mauve!” The Doctor exclaims, already taking off down the hallway towards the console room. I exchange a look with Rose, both of us running after him. 

“What’s mauve?” Rose asks. 

I shrug. “I have no idea, but it doesn’t sound good.”

We turn the corner to the sight of the Doctor flipping a lever while intently watching the monitor. The Tardis is still jerking about, and it’s hard to stay on my feet.

Rose stumbles closer, using the console to steady herself. “What's the emergency? What’s mauve?”

“The universally recognized color for danger.” The Doctor responds.

I frown, stumbling my own way over to the console. “Whatever happened to red?”

There’s a flash of teeth as the Doctor smiles at me, before he focuses back on the monitor. “That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing.” He types something into the keyboard. “It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the Tardis. Where it goes, we go.”

“And that's safe, is it?” Rose asks. 

“Totally!” The Doctor answers far too fast. 

The Tardis jerks, sparks exploding from the console. I send him a dirty look. 

“Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there.” Stumbling over to the monitor, I’m just in time to see whatever it is on the screen vanish. “No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us.”

“What was it?” I ask him. 

“No idea.” He responds. 

Rose looks between us, confused. “Then why are we chasing it?”

“It's mauve and dangerous.” The Doctor explains. “And about thirty seconds from the center of London.”

Of course it is. 

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” I push urgency over our connection. 

He nods, pulling a lever and the shaking stops as we materialize. 

“Did we make it?” Rose asks. 

“Yep, this is Earth all right.” The Doctor’s face turns petulant, and he puts a hand on my back to direct me down the grating and out of the front doors. “Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?”

Rose closes the door behind her, looking around the alleyway we’ve stepped into. “Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?”

“Of all the species in all the Universe and it has to come out of a cow.” His voice is plaintive. 

I pat him on the back. “So where is the thing that we were chasing?”

The Doctor starts walking down the alleyway. “Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago.” He pauses, reconsidering. “Maybe a month.”

“A month?” Rose asks, incredulous. “We were right behind it.”

“It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We're bound to be a little bit out.” The Doctor sends her a frustrated look. “Do you want to drive?”

Rose rolls her eyes. “Yeah. How much is a little?”

“A bit.” He responds. 

“Is that exactly a bit?” Rose asks, sending him a look. 

The Doctor shrugs. “Ish.”

“What's the plan, then?” Rose asks, jumping tracks. “Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?”

He gives her a very patient look. “Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang.” Pulling out the psychic paper, he shows it to her. “I'm going to ask.”

She leans in, reading. “Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids.”

“It's psychic paper. It tells you-“ The Doctor begins, but Rose cuts him off. 

“Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember.” Her voice is annoyed. 

He sends her an apologetic look. “Sorry.”

My eyes flit between them, a frown tugging at my lips. I’ve never seen them so out of sorts with one another. They’ve always had a pretty good relationship from what I can remember. So seeing them like this is troubling. 

We arrive at the end of the alleyway. There’s a door marked ‘Deliveries only’ and the Doctor leans in to listen. 

“Not very Spock, is it, just asking.” Rose states. 

The Doctor pulls back from the door, gesturing to it. “Door, music, people. What do you think?”

“I think you should do a scan for alien tech.” She answers. “Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?” 

He ignores her, pulling out the sonic and pointing it at the door. The lock clicks and the Doctor puts the sonic back into his pocket, eyes flickering over Rose’s shirt. “Are you sure about that t-shirt?” 

Fair question, her shirt does have the union jack all over it.

Rose looks down at it herself. “Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin.”

Shrugging, the Doctor gestures to the open door. “Come on if you're coming. It won't take a minute.” 

I link our hands, smiling at him. It doesn’t bother me, doing it this way. And I’m fairly certain I know why he does it this way anyways. It wouldn’t be any fun to scan for alien tech. What kind of adventure would that be? 10 minutes and you’d be done. This way he got to talk with people and interact. 

He squeezes my hand, his exhaustion brushing up against my mind. I can tell that this hostility thing between the two of them is wearing on him. 

Following the hallway in, we turn right at the intersection as we see a waiter going through a beaded curtain. Smooth Jazz is playing, and a singer is singing some sort of sultry song. Everyone is wearing clothes that belong in a 40’s movie. 

The woman finishes her song, and the Doctor’s hand loosens as he starts to walk forward. He wants to address the people no doubt, ask some questions. I tighten my hand and pull him back. 

He sends me a questioning look. I nod to the poster that’s on the wall. It says ‘Hitler will send no warning’ and shows off an aerial view of an air raid. 

The Doctor straightens up, looking from the poster to the people around us. “Oh.” 

“Yeah, I don’t think you’re going to get anything from them.” I respond. 

A siren starts up, and all the patrons stand up and rush for the door. The Doctor slumps in response. “I’m thinking you might be right.” 

I tug on his hand. “C’mon, let’s go get Rose.”

His head snaps up, looking around. “She didn’t follow us in?” 

“No, dear. I think she went back to grab something.” Releasing his hand, I head back the way we came. Out of the back door and up the alleyway.

“Rose?” The Doctor calls. 

A cat meows, jumping off of the dumpster. 

Looking at me, he purses his lips. “You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing.”

I raise an eyebrow. “I’m told you before, and I’ll tell you again. It isn’t the companions who wander off most of the time, it’s you.”

He opens his mouth to respond, but the Tardis phone goes off. The Doctor’s mouth snaps shut and he swings around to stare at it in confusion. 

Laughing, I can’t help but tease him. “You act like you’ve never seen a ringing phone before.”

“It’s not supposed to be ringing.” The Doctor states, stepping up to the box and opening the panel with the phone. “What am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?”

“Don't answer it. It's not for you.” A woman states from behind us, startling us both and causing us to whirl around to face her.

The Doctor looks at her evenly. “And how do you know that?”

“'Cos I do.” She responds. “And I'm telling you, don't answer it.” 

“Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing?” The Doctor asks, turning back to the still ringing phone and pulling out his sonic. “It's not even a real phone. It's not connected-“

“You can stop now.” I interrupt. The woman had left as soon as he turned his back, taking off down the street and disappearing into the darkness like a ghost. 

He huffs, frowning at the phone. I roll my eyes, pulling the receiver off and bringing it up to my ear. “Hello?” 

There’s no response. 

“Hello, this is Mabel speaking. Is anyone there?” I try again. 

‘Mummy? Mummy?’ A child’s voice responds. 

My face stiffens in shock. “Who is this?”

The Doctor takes the receiver from me, putting it up to his own ear. “Hello?”

‘Mummy?’ The child asks again. 

There is no recognition on his face at the voice, so that’s one concern down. For a second I thought that this might be.. well, looks like it wasn’t. 

“How did you ring here?” The Doctor asks. “This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything.”

Just the same response. ‘Mummy?’ And then the dial tone. 

The Doctor and I exchange a look. He leans closer to the door and knocks on it. “Rose, are you in there?”

There’s no response. But there is a noise from the other end of the alley. I take a step towards it, the Doctor right behind me. The noise had come from the left, an area that we hadn’t gone down before, so I follow it there. 

There’s a brick wall, but on the other side I can hear voices. “The planes are coming. Can't you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now move it!” A woman scolds someone. 

There are a couple of conveniently placed trash bins next to the wall, which the Doctor and I take advantage of so we can see what’s going on.

A woman is hurrying her child into a shed like building. 

“Come on, hurry up, get in there. Come on.” The woman turns and yells towards the house. “Arthur! Arthur, will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the siren?”

A man who I’m going to assume is Arthur comes out of the house. “Middle of dinner, every night. Blooming Germans. Don't you eat?”

“I can hear the planes!” The woman insists. 

“Don't you eat?” The man yells out at the sky. 

“Oh, keep your voice down, will you?” The woman scolds, bustling the both of them into the shelter. “It's an air raid! Get in. Look, there's a war on.”

The man doesn’t sound pleased as he responds. “I know there's a war on. Don't push me.”

The door shuts, and the sound of bickering quiets down. I’m just about to move, when the woman who warned us to not answer the phone earlier steps out from behind a bush and goes into the house the family just came out of. 

Turning his head to look at me, the Doctor raises an eyebrow. I nod. And then we are quietly making our way down from the trash bins, and over to a gate in the wall. 

It’s just a latch gate, easy to open, and we are through in seconds. Slowly opening the back door, I step inside. What’s happened is easy to see. A rack for cooling bread with crumbs underneath, that no bread is on now. A cupboard that wasn’t quite closed properly. 

Huh, the woman goes into houses during air raids and clears out food. That’s pretty ingenious, I have to admit. And it wouldn’t hurt the family in the bunker to miss out on a loaf of bread.

The Doctor gestures farther down the hall where a murmur of hushed noise has begun to swell. It sounds like children. 

“All right, then. One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly.” The woman insists, and I come around the corner just in time to see her start passing a plate of sliced meat. 

The children, for there are several around the table, each take one slice and pass it down. The Doctor slips in quietly and goes to an open spot in the table, but I stay near the door. 

“Thank you, miss.” “Thanks, miss.” “Thank you miss.” Every child thanks the woman for the food. 

“Thanks, miss!” The Doctor chimes in, taking his own slice of meat. The children finally seem to notice him and panic. Many rise from their seats looking ready to bolt. 

“It's all right.” The woman insists. “Everybody stay where you are!”

“Good here, innit? Who's got the salt?” The Doctor asks, pretending like everything is normal. Sometimes this man is just too much. His eyes flicker up and catch mine, a hint of a smile lingering around his mouth. 

“Back in your seats.” The woman states, frustrated. She turns and catches my eyes as well. “They shouldn’t be here either.”

The children do as she says, slowly, while shooting confused glances between the two of us. 

The Doctor takes a bite of his food. “So, you lot, what's the story?”

“What do you mean?” An older boy asks. 

“You're homeless, right?” I ask. 

“Living rough?” The Doctor continues. 

One of the younger boys puffs up, confrontational. “Why would the two of you want to know that? Are you coppers?”

I scoff. “In these clothes? Nah, I’m not a copper and neither is he.”

“What's a copper going to do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving?” The children laugh, even though it wasn’t really a joke. The Doctor continues, briefly glancing at his watch. “It’s 1941. You lot shouldn't even be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now.”

“I was evacuated.” A different child chimes up. “Sent me to a farm.”

“So why'd you come back?” The Doctor asks. 

“There was a man there.” The child responds, looking down. 

“Yeah, same with Ernie.” A boy from the other side of the table says, gesturing to the older looking child. “Two homes ago.”

“Shut up.” Ernie scowls. “It's better on the streets anyway. It's better food.”

“Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us.” Another child states, eating a piece of meat off his plate. 

“So, that's what you do, is it, Nancy?” The Doctor asks. 

“What is?” The woman we’ve been following, now Nancy, retorts. 

“As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo!” The Doctor states, leaning back in his seat. “Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you.”

Nancy raises an eyebrow. “Something wrong with that?”

“No.” I chime in, taking a step forward. “I think it’s amazing.”

“Though mind you, I’m not sure if it’s Marxism in action or a West End musical.” The Doctor continues. 

“Why'd you follow me?” Nancy asks, looking between the two of us. “What do you want?”

“I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call.” The Doctor states. “You seem to be the one to ask.”

“I did you both a favor. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you.” Nancy replies. 

Well, she obviously knows something that’s she’s not willing to talk about. 

“Great, thanks. And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving.” The Doctor says, causing the children to laugh once more. “Anybody seen a girl like that?”

Nancy gets up, walks over to where the Doctor is and takes his plate away. 

“What have I done wrong?” He asks, bewildered. 

“You took two slices. No blondes, no flags.” She states. “Anything else before you leave?”

I shift from my position next to the door. “Yeah, we’re looking for something else too. Would have fallen out of the sky about a month ago, something that wasn’t a bomb. It wouldn’t have exploded.” Rummaging in my pockets, I pull out a small notepad and a pen, quickly sketching out what it looks like and showing everyone. “It would have looked like this.”

The children lean in, most shaking their heads. Well, it was a long shot anyways. We are all startled, however, when a knock comes from the window. 

“Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?” The Doctor brushes the curtains back to show a young child with a gas mask on, one with a very familiar voice. This is the same child who called the Tardis earlier, I’m certain of it. 

The child tilts it’s head. “Mummy?”

“Who was the last one in?” Nancy whispers, staring at the child with dread on her face.

“They were, miss.” One of the children points to the Doctor and me. 

“No.” Nancy shakes her head. “They came round the back. Who came in the front?”

“Me.” One of the younger children states fearfully.

“Did you close the door?” Nancy asks urgently. 

The child looks upset, shaking his head. “I don’t remember.”

Nancy turns on her heel and runs, and the Doctor and I take off after her. She ends up in front of the door and latches it right before the child outside can get there. 

“Mummy? Are you there mummy?” The child asks. 

“What's this, then?” The Doctor asks, there is a ball of disapproving emotions spilling over from his side of the connection. “It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know.”

“I suppose you'd know.” Nancy states, disbelieving. 

“I do actually, yes.” The Doctor responds. 

She pauses, looking back at him with pained eyes. “It's not exactly a child.”

There’s a knock at the door. “Mummy?”

Nancy turns the corner into the dining room. “Right, everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!” 

The children get up, some stuffing food into their pockets as they do so, before rushing towards the back of the house. 

“Mummy?” The child with the gas mask outside of the house asks again. “Mummy? Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in, mummy.” His hand comes through the mailbox hole, reaching for something. There’s a mark on his hand, like he’s been scratched or something. 

I take a step forward. “Are you okay?” 

“Please let me in.” The child says, voice plaintive. 

A vase breaks against the side of the door before I can get there, scaring me, and causing the child to pull his hand back. 

“You mustn't let him touch you!” Nancy insists. 

“Why?” The Doctor asks. “What happens if he touches you?”

She purses her lips. “He'll make you like him.”

“And what's he like?” I ask, not happy with the situation at all. 

“I've got to go.” Nancy says, shaking her head and turning to leave. 

The Doctor places a hand on her arm. “Nancy, what's he like?”

She looks at him, eyes full of hurt. “He's empty.

Then the telephone rings. “It's him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw.” Nancy tells us.

Picking up the phone, I bring it to my ear. “Mummy?” The child asks. 

Nancy grabs the phone from my hand and hangs up. A radio screeches from the dining area. “Mummy? Please let me in, mummy.” Comes the child’s voice, mixed with a smooth jazz number. 

I go into the dining room, taking a step closer to the radio and a clockwork monkey starts clanging its symbols behind me. “Mummy, mummy, mummy.” 

“You two stay if you want to.” Nancy tells us, panic in her voice, then she rushes away heading towards the back door. 

“Okay, not going to lie. This is freaking me out.” I murmur to the Doctor. 

He slips his hand into mine, squeezing. “Braveheart Mabel.” 

Then, together, we walk back to the front door. 

“Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in.” The child repeats, hand reaching through the mail slot again. 

“Your mummy isn't here.” The Doctor explains, kneeling down to see the hand better. 

There is a pause. “Are you my mummy?”

He shakes his head even though the child can’t see it. “No mummies here. Nobody here but us chickens.”

“I'm scared.” The child states. 

I swallow. “Why were those other children scared when you knocked on the window?”

“Please let me in, mummy.” The child continues, like he can’t hear us. Or maybe it’s that he can’t understand us. “I'm scared of the bombs.”

“Okay.” The Doctor murmurs. “I'm opening the door now.”

The boy pulls his hand back from the mail slot and presumably steps away from the door. Unbolting the top and bottom of the door, the Doctor opens it. 

No one is there. 

I step by him, looking down the street, but no one is there. “He’s gone.” 

The Doctor purses his lips, looking back at the house. “The child might be gone, but we know someone who can tell us about him.”

“Nancy.” I nod in agreement. “But she ran off.” 

“I can follow her.” He smirks at me, tapping his nose. 

“I mean, I knew you could smell hormonal changes and all, but you can follow her just like that?” How interesting, the Doctor is like an old fashioned bloodhound.

“It’s not that difficult. Though I’ve always seemed to have the better nose between the two of us.” The Doctor replies, distracted. He’s already heading back through the house towards the back door. “Humans are always throwing out chemosignals. Scared? Tired? Happy? The stronger the feeling, the stronger the scent. And Nancy was very afraid just then.” 

Hmm. Y’know, I have never been as glad as I was just then that the Doctor was a generally good force in the world. I don’t think anyone would have been able to go up against him if the reverse was true. 

His eyes slide over to me. “What?”

I shrug. “Just glad you’re on our side. S’all.”

“You say that like I’d be on any other side.” The Doctor responds. 

“Sap.” I can’t help but tease him. 

The Doctor smirks. “You bet.” Then he shushes me, gesturing to an abandoned looking shack beside the railroad tracks. 

The sound of someone rummaging around reaches my ears, and by the time we’re reaching the shack Nancy is standing up to where we can see her through a window. 

She startles at the sight of us. “How'd you follow me here?”

“I'm good at following, me.” The Doctor tilts his head and studies her. “Got the nose for it.”

“People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to.” She states, eyes flickering between the two of us. 

“My nose has special powers.” He rocks forward on his heels, smiling.

Nancy smiles, just a little. “Yeah? That's why it's-“ She cuts herself off. 

The Doctor looks confused. “What?”

“Nothing.” She replies. 

“What?” The Doctor asks, tilting his head. 

“Nothing.” Nancy insists. “Do your ears have special powers too?” 

I snort involuntarily, turning away to hide my face. 

“Oi!” He elbows me, then turns back to Nancy with a raised eyebrow. “What are you trying to say?”

Nancy laughs. “Goodnight, Mister.”

As she’s turning away, I take a step forward. “Nancy, that boy, he’s following you and the other kids. That all started about a month ago, am I right?”

She had stopped when I was speaking, and she slowly turns around once I finish. I can see on her face that I’m right. “Remember how I said we were looking for something? It would have fallen somewhere close to here around the same time, and you know what I’m talking about don’t you?”

Nancy nods reluctantly. “There was a bomb. A bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station.”

“Will you take us there?” I ask her. 

“There's soldiers guarding it.” She states, shaking her head. “Barbed wire. You'll never get through.”

The Doctor looks at her, letting her see how serious he is. “Try us.”

“You sure you want to know what's going on in there?” Nancy asks again. 

“We really want to know.” I verify. 

She nods, as if to herself. “Then there's someone you need to talk to first.”

“And who might that be?” The Doctor asks. 

“The Doctor.” Nancy responds, taking off with the full expectation that we’ll be following her. 

The Doctor and I exchange looks, then hurry to catch up with Nancy. 

She leads us down the railroad tracks, to a set of stairs that has a good vantage point of an area that’s behind barbed wire, patrolled by soldiers. The Doctor pulls out a pair of fancy looking binoculars, looking through them out at the camp. 

“The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up over night.” Nancy nods to the building on the right. “See that building? The hospital.”

“What about it?” The Doctor asks, distracted. 

“That's where the doctor is. You should talk to him.” She tells us. This is the second time she’s said the same thing. 

The Doctor hums, still focused on the guards. “For now, I'm more interested in getting in there.”

Nancy frowns, insistent. “Talk to the doctor first.” 

I nod, letting her know I’ll go talk to the Doctor she wants us to talk with. But, still I have to know. “Why are you so determined for us to talk to this Doctor?”

“Because then maybe you won't want to get inside.” She says, turning around to walk up the stairs. 

The Doctor pulls the binoculars down. “Where're you going?”

Nancy pauses. “There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed. Should be safe enough now.”

I can feel the Doctor’s hesitation, then his determination. “Can I ask you a question?” He turns to look at Nancy. “Who did you lose?”

“What.” She states, voice shaper than earlier. 

“The way you look after all those kids.” The Doctor continues, voice soft. “It's because you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it.”

Nancy looks away. “My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just.” She hesitates, voice breaking. “He just didn't like being on his own.”

“What happened?” He asks. 

“In the middle of an air raid?” She scoffs. “What do you think happened?”

The Doctor looks down, not looking surprised. 

I look up at the sky, brushing my shoulders against his. You can just barely make out the planes flying overhead. This is history in action. 

Laughing, he looks at me then looks at the sky. “Amazing.”

“What is?” Nancy asks. 

“1941. Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe. Country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it. Nothing.” The Doctor tells her. “Until one, tiny, damp little island says no. No. Not here. A mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me.” Nancy doesn’t look like she knows what to make of that, and the Doctor gestures up the stairs. “Off you go then do what you've got to do. Save the world.”

Nancy spares us one last look, then turns on her heels to do exactly that. 

The Doctor and I walk down the rest of the stairs, turning to the right where the hospital is. ‘Albion Hospital’ is in huge letters over the front gate. Pulling out his sonic to work the lock, the Doctor spares me a concerned look. “You’re awfully quiet tonight.”

“The whole situation with the kids, and the child in the gas mask. And I still think Nancy knows more than she’s letting on.” I shrug “I don’t know. I just feel off.”

The lock snaps open, but the Doctor isn’t paying attention to it. In fact, after my last words he had abruptly stood and turned to face me. He reaches forward and puts his hands on either side of my forehead. 

Bewildered, I stare at him. “What are you doing?”

“I might have better physical senses, but you’ve always had the better empathic senses.” A furrow starts between his eyes. “How long ago was your physiology reset?”

“A little over three weeks ago.” I answer, still thoroughly off kilter. “Wait, are you trying to say that I’m an empath?” 

The Doctor laughs. “All Gallifreyans are empaths, to an extent. It’s impossible to take in the amount of sensory information we do and not be affected in any way. You’ve always been a little more open to it than most.” 

“Telepathic, empathic, what’s next? Technopathy?” I snark, unable to help myself. 

Pulling his hands back, the Doctor taps my nose in response. “There. Better?”

It hadn’t felt like he had done anything in the first place, and I go to be sarcastic once more but the look on his face stops me. Instead, I actually think about it. “I..feel clearer.”

“Yep, that was me.” The Doctor states. “Cleaned out the cobwebs making you feel ‘off’ and put up a thin barrier to filter out the negative energy until you get used to doing it automatically yourself.” 

"Negative energy?" I ask, rubbing my forehead. 

He nods. "You have a tendency to feel too much, taking in everything around you until it starts to make you 'fuzzy'. One day, you'll learn to filter it out."

This is getting to be too much. 

"Doctor." I hesitate. "What I don't get is why are all of these things happening now? Why are they suddenly popping up when I never noticed them before?" 

"It isn’t." He murmurs, studying me. "You’ve always been this way. Have you ever touched someone and suddenly knew they had been lying to you? Or reacted to another person’s sadness with the same intensity that they were showing? These things were already a part of you. But you were untrained. When you started to use your telepathy more, you started exercising that part of you."

Turning my head and lifting my chin, the Doctor kisses me. Comfort, affection, with just a hint of promise. "There. Look at all that information you just got from that kiss." 

I flush bright red. If I was able to ascertain that from his kiss, just what was it that he just got from me? His finger trails across my cheek, no doubt following my blush. “Okay..that was very convincing.”

The Doctor laughs. “Now let’s go find out what’s going on here.”

“Yes, let’s do that.” I reply quickly, trying to force my cheeks to cool. He quirks his eyebrow at me as if he knows exactly what I’m thinking but I do my best to ignore him. 

The front door is unlocked, which strikes me as strange, but it only gets stranger from there. It’s deserted. There’s no one in the halls, no nurses, no doctors, nothing. At least until I poke my head into a ward. There are people on the beds, people who are very clearly not breathing. Everyone is wearing a gas mask. 

Returning from his own peek into the ward across the hall, the Doctor and I share a concerned glance. Continuing down the hall, everything we see is the same. Wards full of people wearing gas masks lying down on the beds, dead. 

That is until we reach the ward at the very end of the hall. As soon as we walk into that one, an old, grumpy looking man appears, using a walking stick. 

“You'll find them everywhere.” The man states. “In every bed, in every ward. Hundreds of them.”

“Yes, I saw.” The Doctor replies, his voice low. “Why are they still wearing gas masks?”

“They're not. Who are you two?” The man asks us, voice sharp. 

I take a step towards him. “Are you the doctor here?” 

The man studies me. “Doctor Constantine. And you are?”

“I’m Mabel.” Gesturing to the Doctor, I continue. “That’s the Doctor. Nancy sent us.”

“Nancy?” Doctor Constantine raises an eyebrow. “That means you must've been asking about the bomb.”

“Yes.” The Doctor confirms.

Doctor Constantine starts limping towards a desk in the middle of the room, leaning heavily on his cane. “What do you know about it?”

The Doctor tilts his head. “Nothing. Why I was asking. What do you know?”

“Only what it's done.” Doctor Constantine responds. Sitting down heavily on the chair next to the desk, he eyes us wearily. 

“These people, they were all caught up in the blast?” The Doctor asks, turning his attention to the people on the beds. 

Doctor Constantine shakes his head. “None of them were.” He laughs, which turns into a wet sounding cough. 

“Are you alright Doctor Constantine?” I ask, concerned. “You sound very sick.”

He smiles at me. “Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time.” His eyes drift over to the Doctor. “You’re a doctor?”

“I have my moments.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“Have you examined any of them yet?” Doctor Constantine asks. 

The Doctor shakes his head. 

Doctor Constantine nods out at the patients, but cautions us. “Don't touch the flesh.”

“Which one?” I ask, already turning away.

“Any one.” Doctor Constantine replies, making me pause. 

Exchanging a look with the Doctor, he nods and pulls out his sonic screwdriver. Being careful to not touch the skin, he does a scan of the nearest patient. 

Doctor Constantine watches this happen. “Conclusions?”

“Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side.” The Doctor murmurs. “Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't see any burns.”

“Examine another one.” Doctor Constantine orders. 

The Doctor does, and I can tell from the connection before he even turns around what’s happening. 

“They’re the same?” I ask. 

“This isn’t possible.” The Doctor replies, running over to a patient on the other side of the room and scanning them as well. 

Doctor Constantine watches us. “No, it isn’t.” 

The Doctor stops what’s he’s doing and looks at Doctor Constantine. “They've all got the same injuries.”

“Yes.” The man confirms. 

“Exactly the same.” The Doctor murmurs, like he can’t believe it. 

Doctor Constantine nods. “Yes.”

“Identical, all of them.” The Doctor continues. “Right down to the scar on the back of the hand.”

A scar that the child in the gasmask had as well. And one that I can see on the back of Doctor Constantine’s hand. Chills shoot down my spine. 

“How did this happen? How did it start?” The Doctor asks intently. 

“When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim.” Doctor Constantine tells us. 

The Doctor narrows his eyes. “Dead?”

“At first.” Doctor Constantine explains. “His injuries were truly dreadful. By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague.” He pauses looking up at the Doctor. “Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?”

“The head trauma.” The Doctor replies. 

Doctor Constantine shakes his head. 

The Doctor frowns. “Asphyxiation?”

“No.” The man replies. 

“The collapse of the chest cavity.” The Doctor offers, a look of confusion on his face.

Doctor Constantine looks at him. “No.”

“All right.” The Doctor states, slightly annoyed. “What was the cause of death?”

“They aren’t dead, are they?” I ask, goose bumps forming along my arms. 

Doctor Constantine’s eyes flicker to mine. “You are correct. They aren’t dead.” He reaches out with his cane and smacks it against a garbage can. All of the patients sit up, heads turning to look at us. 

The Doctor and I jerk back from them, moving towards the center of the room. 

“It's all right.” Doctor Constantine states. “They're harmless. They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just don't die.”

“And they've just been left here? Nobody's doing anything?” The Doctor asks. 

The patients lie down once more. 

“I try and make them comfortable. What else is there?” Doctor Constantine tells us, a tired look of his face. 

“Just you?” The Doctor looks at him. “You're the only one here?”

“Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather.” Doctor Constantine states. “Now I am neither. But I'm still a doctor.”

The Doctor walks over to me and links our hands, squeezing hard. “Yeah. I know the feeling.” 

Oh Doctor. I can feel his pain. Suddenly his desperate hope from the first time he saw me in this body makes sense. If he lost someone.. I press support up against the barrier between our minds, feeling his gratitude in return. 

“I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb.” Doctor Constantine reveals, looking around at the patients. 

“Probably too late.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“No. There are isolated cases.” Doctor Constantine coughs, words coming out strained. “Isolated cases breaking out all over London.” The Doctor and I take a step forward, but he holds up a hand. “Stay back, stay back. Listen to me. Top floor. Room eight zero two. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again.”

I tilt my head, suspicion rising. It had seemed like there was more she wasn’t telling us. “Nancy?”

“It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying. She won't tell me, but she might-“ Doctor Constantine coughs again, starting to choke. “Mummmmy. Are you my mummy?”

Horrified, I watch as his mouth pushes out and turns black. The distinct shape of a gasmask forming. Pulling me back, the Doctor directs us out of the room. 

“Doctor.” I say, shocked and very frightened. 

He shakes his head, just as off kilter as I am. 

“Hello?” Rose calls from somewhere far away, breaking us out of our funk. 

A male voice, who sounds very familiar, also calls out. “Hello?”

Grateful for the distraction, and also grateful that we finally know where Rose has gotten to, I take off down the hallway towards the noise, the Doctor right behind me. 

We push through a door and come face to face with Rose, and..Jack. Huh, I knew that voice sounded familiar. “Rose, Jack!” I exclaim. “It’s good to see the both of you.”

Jack, who had been in the process of extending his hand for a handshake looks confused. “Have we met before?” 

I’m confused myself, before I remember just what my life has become. “Sorry.” I murmur sheepishly. “I don’t always meet people in the right order.” 

He appraises me, a saucy smirk appearing once he gives me a full body look over. “Captain Jack Harkness, at your service.” Bending over my hand, he kisses it, smirking at me on the way up. 

I raise an eyebrow, more amused than anything else. The Doctor is a big ball of disapproval at my back, but I soothe his ruffled feathers by letting him feel how unaffected with the whole thing I am. “Hello Captain Jack Harkness, my name is Mabel.” Tilting my head, I extract my hand from where it’s still in his. “And I would try reigning those pheromones in, I’m happily in a relationship and not looking for another partner.”

“Pity.” Jack murmurs. “I had to try. Though I wouldn’t mind a night, if you two ever change your mind.” He drops the smirk, getting serious. “I’ve been hearing all about the two of you on the way over.”

“He knows.” Rose states, shifting uncomfortably. “I had to tell him about us being Time Agents.”

“And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock.” Jack says to the Doctor before walking past him towards the ward we just came out of. 

“Mister Spock?” The Doctor asks Rose incredulously. 

“What was I supposed to say?” Rose asks. “You don't have a name. Don't you ever get tired of Doctor? Doctor who?”

“Nine centuries in, I'm coping.” The Doctor responds. We all turn and walk down the hall after Jack. “Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll.”

Rose looks unconcerned. “Who's strolling? I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid.”

“Wait, what?” I ask her, confused. 

“Listen, what's a Chula warship?” Rose continues, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. 

The Doctor narrows his eyes. “Chula?” 

Rose nods, opening the door to the ward. 

Jack is in the process of scanning a patient. He frowns, scanning another. “This just isn't possible. How did this happen?”

“What kind of Chula ship landed here?” The Doctor asks him.

“What?” Jack frowns at him, clearly not seeing the reason he’s being asked that. 

“He said it was a warship.” Rose chimes in. “He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer.”

The Doctor narrows his eyes at Jack. “What kind of warship?”

“Does it matter?” Jack shakes his head. “It's got nothing to do with this.”

“Yes it matters.” I tell him, voice sharp. Maybe we know him in the future, but I’m quickly getting sick of his attitude. “All of this originated at the bomb site. Answer the question.” 

Jack purses his lips in annoyance. “It was an ambulance.” Pressing a button on the contraption strapped to his wrist, a 3d hologram comes up of what we saw on the Tardis monitor. “Look. That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait-“

“Bait?” Rose echoes, annoyance in her tone. 

“I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk.” Jack finishes. 

Rose crosses her arms. “You said it was a war ship.”

Jack gives her a patronizing look. “They have ambulances in wars.” Walking away, he turns back to us and continues. “It was a con. I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you.”

“Just a couple more freelancers.” Rose murmurs. 

“Oh. Should have known.” Jack laughs bitterly. “The way you guys are blending in with the local color. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but now we have U-Boat Captain and Boho.” He rolls his eyes. “Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship.”

Frowning, Rose looks around at the patients. “What is happening here, Doctor?”

“Human DNA is being rewritten.” The Doctor states. “By an idiot.” 

“What do you mean?” Rose gives him a confused look. 

“I don't know. Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things.” The Doctor murmurs. “But why? What's the point?”

As if triggered by his words, the patients all sit up. But this time they don’t stay on their beds. A chorus of “Mummy” rings out around us creating an eerie backdrop.

“What's happening?” Rose asks. 

“I don’t know.” The patients start to walk towards us. “But whatever you do don’t let them touch you.” 

Rose looks at me with a frown. “What happens if they touch us?”

“You're looking at it.” The Doctor explains, gaining looks from both Jack and Rose. 

“Seriously?” Jack asks. 

“Why do you think they all have the same injuries?” I ask, sending him a scathing look. 

Unfortunately, they have us surrounded and are successfully backing us into a wall. “Doctor.” I murmur, reaching out and grabbing his hand. 

He looks back at me, before something hardens behind those eyes of his. Raising his chin, he drops my hand and takes a step closer to the patients. “Go to your room.” 

The patients still. My heart is pounding so hard I can barely hear the words, but hear them I do, and I can hardly believe they are working. 

The Doctor continues, voice stern. “Go to your room. I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross. Go to your room!”

There is a second where nothing happens, but then the patients lower their heads and slowly turn away. Shuffling their ways to their respective beds and lying down once more. 

“I can’t believe that worked.” I breathe out, tension fading from my shoulders. 

“I glad it did though.” The Doctor smirks at me over his shoulder. “Those would have been terrible last words.”

I shove him, annoyed with his flippancy. Terrible last words indeed. 

Jack goes over and sits down at the table in the middle of the room, propping his feet up. Rose wanders over to one of the patients, kneeling down and examining them. “Why are they all wearing gas masks?”

“They're not. Those masks are flesh and bone.” Jack explains. With an attitude, again. 

“I’m a bit slow on the uptake sometimes.” I tell him, narrowing my eyes and crossing my arms. “So you’ll have to explain. Just how was your con going to be run again?” 

“Simple enough, really.” Jack states. “Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put fifty percent up front, oops!” He mimes something blowing up. “A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con.”

The Doctor raises an eyebrow. “Yeah. Perfect.”

Jack leans back in the chair. “The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day.” He laughs, full on amusement on his face until he realizes that no one else is laughing with him, then his amusement fades quickly. “Getting a hint of disapproval.”

“Take a look around the room.” The Doctor gestures to the people on the beds. “This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did.” 

“It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty.” Jack insists. 

“Rose.” The Doctor calls out, turning on his heels and heading for the door. I’m only a second behind him. 

Rose quickly catches up and looks at us expectantly. “Are we getting out of here?”

The Doctor points to the ceiling. “We're going upstairs.”

The chair scrapes across the floor as Jack stands up. “I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it.” 

I pause, turning to face him, noting the Doctor doing the same at my side. 

“I'll tell you what's happening.” The Doctor states. “You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day.”

A siren interrupts anything that Jack could have said in response. 

“What's that?” Rose asks. 

“The all clear.” Jack responds. 

The Doctor scoffs, shaking his head. “I wish.”

Tired of the bickering, I walk off, making my way out of the ward and up the stairs. 

“Mabel!” The Doctor calls out, catching up to me. I send him a look. He shrugs sheepishly in response. “Sorry, it’s been a rough century. I’ve gone all pessimistic this time around.”

“Well, looks like I’m just going to have to remind you to be less defeatist when I’m around.” I state, slightly annoyed. 

He nudges my hand with his, lowering his head and giving me his best smile. Shaking my head, I purse my lips, but I can already feel my frustration with him dissipating. “Fine. You know I can’t stay mad at you for long.”

“I know.” He looks so pleased with himself. 

“You are such a frustrating man.” I mutter, grumpy now. 

The Doctor smirks at me. “I know that as well.” 

I’m so wrapped up in the conversation that I don’t realize we’ve left Rose and Jack behind until they start calling out for us. 

Sticking his head out from around the top of the staircase that we’ve made our way up, the Doctor asks Jack a question. “Have you got a blaster?”

“Sure!” Jack responds 

Rose and Jack hurry up the stairs.

“The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt.” The Doctor gestures to the heavy metal door in front of us. “This was where they were taken.”

“What happened?” Rose asks.

“Let's find out.” The Doctor nods at Jack. “Get it open.”

While Jack is busy with that, Rose turns to the Doctor and lowers her voice. “What's wrong with your sonic screwdriver?”

That’s something I’d like to know as well. 

“Nothing.” He replies. 

Jack’s blaster powers up, leaving a perfect square where the knob and lock used to be. 

“Sonic blaster, fifty first century.” The Doctor examines the gun. “Weapon Factories of Villengard?”

“You've been to the factories?” Jack asks, looking impressed at the knowledge. 

“Once.” The Doctor states, pushing past Jack to get into the room. 

Looking vaguely annoyed now, Jack continues. “Well, they’re gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot.”

“Like I said. Once. There's a banana grove there, now.” The Doctor smiles. “I like bananas. Bananas are good.”

“Nice blast pattern.” Rose compliments Jack. 

I roll my eyes and leave them to their flirting. The room inside is a mess. What was once supposed to be an observation window has been smashed. There are drawings clearly done by a child everywhere. Scribbles on the walls, a couple of toys. 

“Looks like something bad happened here.” I murmur. 

The Doctor nods, eyes flickering to the two walking into the room. “What do you think?”

“Something got out of here.” Jack responds. 

“Yeah. And?” The Doctor looks at him expectedly. 

“Something powerful.” Jack states, looking around the room. “Angry.”

“Powerful and angry.” I shake my head. There’s a buzz, one that’s growing stronger the longer I’m in the room. The very walls are screaming out. “Powerful yes, but I don’t know about angry. More purposeful I would think. And afraid”

Jack goes into the attached room with the children’s toys and freezes. “A child?” He asks. “I suppose this explains Mummy.”

Rose looks confused. “How could a child do this?”

The Doctor presses a button on the tape machine in the observation area. Doctor Constantine’s voice comes over the speaker. ‘Do you know where you are?’

‘Are you my mummy?’ The child asks. 

I go over to the area with the drawings, the Doctor following me. 

‘Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?’ Doctor Constantine prompts. 

‘Are you my mummy?’ The child asks once more. 

There is a pause before Doctor Constantine continues. ‘What do you want? Do you know-‘

The child cuts him off. ‘I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?’

“I've heard this voice before.” Rose states, turning to us. 

“So have we.” I respond, frowning. 

“Always are you my mummy.” Rose continues. “Like he doesn't know.”

‘Mummy?’ The child continues to ask from the tape. It’s heartbreaking. 

“Why doesn't he know?” Rose asks. 

The Doctor doesn’t respond, eyes drawn to the walls. He looks to me, eyes wet with unshed tears. “Can you sense it?”

I nod. 

“Sense what?” Jack asks, eyes flickering between the two of us. 

“Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?” The Doctor demands, pacing. 

I place a hand on his arm. He takes a deep breath, letting it out and visibly calms down. 

Looking back at Rose and Jack, who still look confused, he shakes his head. “Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?”

“Rude.” I murmur, but he waves me off and starts to pace once more.

“When he's stressed, he likes to insult species.” Rose explains to Jack. 

“Rose, I'm thinking.” The Doctor scolds. 

She raises an eyebrow. “He cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than.”

“There are these children living rough round the bomb sites. They come out during air-raids looking for food.” The Doctor thinks out loud. “Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?”

“It was a med-ship. It was harmless.” Jack insists. 

“Yes, you keep saying harmless.” The Doctor brushes that aside. “Suppose one of them was affected, altered?”

“Altered how?” Rose asks, confused. 

There’s a noise that starts. A tick, tick, tick that wasn’t there before. 

“I'm here!” The child states.

The Doctor pauses. “It's afraid. Terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do.” He smiles, one that’s full of disbelief. “It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room.”

That noise. A cold sweat breaks out on the back of my neck.

The repetitive tick, tick, tick as the end of the tape continues to spin. A tape that’s ended. 

“I'm here.” The child states. “Can't you see me?”

The Doctor had sent it to it’s room. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I turn towards the broken observation window, unsurprised to see the child standing there. 

“What's that noise?” Rose asks. 

“It’s the ends of the tape.” I murmur. “It ran out about 20 seconds ago.”

“I'm here, now. Can't you see me?” The child asks, tilting its head as it studies us. 

The Doctor’s realization bleeds over to me. “I sent it to its room.”

I feel the rest of them whirl around beside me. “Doctor?” Rose prompts, voice shaky. 

“Okay, on my signal make for the door.” Jack states, coming up behind us. 

“Mummy?” The child asks once again. 

Pulling something from his coat, Jack aims it at the child in front of us. I’m about to knock the gun from his hand, never will I condone the death of a child if I can prevent it, when I realize it’s a banana. 

Jack seems to realize it at the same I do, and he looks at it in confusion. 

The Doctor pulls the blaster out of his own coat, pointing it at the wall and making a perfect square. “Go now! Don't drop the banana!”

“Why not?!” Jack asks, doing as the Doctor has asked. 

“Good source of potassium!” The Doctor exclaims, scrambling through the wall himself. 

I’m through last, ducking just in time for Jack to grab the blaster back from the Doctor and put the wall back. Huh.

“Digital rewind.” Jack explains before sending a half annoyed, half impressed look in the Doctor’s direction. “Nice switch.”

The Doctor takes the banana back, flipping it and placing it back into his coat pocket. “It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate.”

Jack looks at him, actually looking this time. “There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?” 

Ha, now he’s getting it. “Most things the Doctor says tend to be ridiculous, and yet at the same time they still end up to be true ninety five percent of the time.”

“Bananas are good.” The Doctor states, smirking. 

The wall cracks, like something is hitting it from the other side.

“Come on!” I prompt, and we are off down the hallway. Unfortunately, the ward opens up and patients spill out heading towards us. Taking off in the other direction yields the other ward doors opening up as well. 

Now we are trapped with people coming from either side of the hallway, a child breaking through the wall in front of us and a several story drop outside the wall to our back. 

The patients move forward slowly. “Mummy. Mummy. Mummy.”

“It's keeping us here till it can get at us.” The Doctor murmurs. 

Jack directs a sharp look in his direction. “It's controlling them?”

“It is them.” The Doctor explains. “It's every living thing in this hospital.”

“Okay.” Jack nods, pulling his blaster out and pointing it at the patients coming at us down the hallway to the right. “This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Doc, what you got?”

“I've got a sonic.” The Doctor starts, pulling out his sonic screwdriver, but stops. I get a wave of embarrassment from him. “Er. Oh, never mind.”

“What?” Jack asks. 

“It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that.” The Doctor replies, turning to face the patients coming up on our left. 

“Disrupter? Cannon?” Jack points his gun between the groups of patients advancing on us. “What?”

“It's sonic!” The Doctor whirls around, holding up his screwdriver. “Totally sonic! I am soniced up!”

“A sonic what?!” Jack demands, sounding annoyed.

“Screwdriver!” The Doctor exclaims. 

Jack pauses, turning to look at the screwdriver. 

Seriously? We are about to be killed and the two of them are bickering? I nudge Rose, she’s closer to Jack, and she grabs his blaster pointing it at the ground. A perfect square forms below us, and we drop down into the ward below. Jack is quick to get to his feet, pointing his gun at the ceiling and ‘rewinding’ so that there isn’t a way for the patients up there to get to us. 

I reach out to both Rose and the Doctor. “You two okay?”

The Doctor gets to his feet, brushing some dust off of his jacket. “Could've used a warning.”

“Yeah well, you’re alive.” Looking over to Rose, I smile at her. “Good job Rose.”

Rose preens, looking pleased. The room is dark around us, and she squints into it. “There has to be a light switch somewhere.” 

I nod, ignoring the squabbling still happening behind me, and head over to the switch I can see on the wall. Flipping it, the room lights up. Unfortunately, it also reveals a ward full of patients who sit up as soon as they see us. “Mummy.”

“Door!” Jack demands, running to the closest one and aiming his blaster at it. Nothing happens. He smacks the side, embarrassment coloring his features. “It's the special features. They really drain the battery.”

“The battery?” Rose asks, voice disbelieving. The Doctor pushes past the both of them and opens the door with his screwdriver. “That’s so lame!”

I usher them into the room, closing the door behind me. The Doctor is right beside me, locking the door with his screwdriver. 

“I was going to send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory.” Jack states with a pointed look in the Doctor’s direction. 

“Oh, I know. First day I met him, he blew my job up.” Rose comments. “That's practically how he communicates.” 

“Seriously?” I state, sending him a wave of chastisement. 

He shrugs, pulling back from the door. “It was over run with Autons.” Looking over at everyone else, he nods. “That door should hold it for a bit.”

“The door?” Jack scoffs. “The wall didn't stop it!”

The Doctor ignores him, darting over to the barred windows, presumably looking for a way out. 

“Yeah, but it’s got to find us here first.” I chime in. “So before that happens, what exactly do we have to help us?”

Jack sits down, looking annoyed. “Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch the Doctor could put up some shelves.”

“Window.” The Doctor barks. 

“Barred. Sheer drop outside. Seven stories.” Jack responds, voice clipped. 

“And no other exits.” Rose frowns, voicing the same thing I noticed as soon as we came into the room. Though calling it a room is generous. It’s more of a large storage cupboard than anything else. 

“Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?” Jack asks sarcastically. 

“The more you talk, the more I just want to smack you.” I tell him, annoyed at this attitude. I know he travels with the Doctor at some point in the future, but god only knows why. Also y’know, I still wasn’t completely over the fact he pushed me into traffic. 

“So, where'd you pick this one up, then?” I hear the Doctor ask Rose in an undertone. 

“Doctor.” She mutters, voice telling him to shut up. So Rose has a habit of picking up sarcastic men huh? Should be fun to see in the future. 

“She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship.” Jack replies. “I never stood a chance.”

“Okay. One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here. Have I missed anything?” The Doctor asks. 

“Yeah.” Rose and I exchange a look. “Jack just disappeared.”

The Doctor whirls around, taking in the room like he thought we were lying or something. “Huh, color me surprised.” His gaze darts to me, and I know he’s made a connection with the fact that I recognized him from the future and the likelihood of Jack being a companion at some point. 

Rose leans against the wall with a huff. “Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?”

“Here’s a tip for you.” I lean against the wall next to her, brushing our shoulders together. “Men like Jack are good for a month or so, but they’ll always be looking for something else eventually.”

“I know.” Rose pouts. “But the attention is nice.” 

The Doctor shakes his head. “I’ll never understand women.” He sends me a look, and I get a suppressed flash of his jealousy. “You talk like you’ve had experience with that kind of thing.” 

I can’t help my amusement in response. “I do.” The suppressed flash ignites, jealousy on the forefront now. I suppress an eyeroll and walk over to the Doctor who’s turned back to the bars like he’s actually doing something. “I did have partners before you Doctor.”

“I know.” He grumbles. “Doesn’t mean I can’t be jealous of that.”

Tugging lightly on his jacket to get him to turn around, I smile at him. “I heard this from an inside source, it’s a secret so don’t tell anyone, but I know a person who’s pretty into you.” 

The frown slowly slides off his face, some of his usual charm replacing it. “This person, do they happen to be called Mabel?” 

“Y’know.” I pretend to think about. “I do believe that was their name!”

The Doctor smiles, eyes lighting up. He leans down for a kiss and I meet him halfway.

After a few seconds Rose clears her throat, so I pull back, but not before I let slip a tendril of satisfaction. Jealousy successfully taken care of. He sends me an amused look, wise to my plan. 

I raise an eyebrow, daring him to say something and he looks away, innocence radiating through the connection. 

An old-fashioned radio that’s tucked in the corner crackles. “Rose? Doctor? Mabel? Can you hear me? I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it. Hang in there.” 

The Doctor darts over to the radio, turning it right side up. I follow the cord, confused to how it’s working. Unsurprisingly, the end of the cord isn’t connected to anything. “How're you speaking to us?” 

“Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill.” Jack responds. 

“Now there's a coincidence.” The Doctor states, exchanging a look with me. 

There’s a pause. “What is?” 

“The child can Om-Com, too.” The Doctor states. 

Rose looks between us. “He can?”

I nod. “Yeah, he phoned us earlier on the Tardis phone. And spoke through the radio in this house we were in, as well as a talking monkey. It was pretty creepy.”

“What, you mean the child can phone us?” Rose asks, looking alarmed. 

“And I can hear you.” The child speaks through the radio. “Coming to find you. Coming to find you.”

“Doctor, can you hear that?” Jack asks.

“Loud and clear.” The Doctor replies, lips pursed in displeasure. 

“I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do.” I can hear him pressing a button and then ‘Moonlight Serenade’ pours through the speakers. “Remember this one Rose?”

“Our song.” Rose smiles to herself. Get it girl. She meanders over to a wheelchair and takes a seat. 

I nudge the Doctor’s arm with my own. “So, do you think Jacks gonna come through?” 

He shrugs. “Maybe, maybe not.” His eyes flicker over to mine. “Though you know him in the future, which suggests that he sticks around. And I have a hard time believing that we let him do so if he doesn’t help in some way.” 

Chagrin crosses my face. “I really need to control my reactions to people better.” I’m really not cut out for this spoiler thing. 

“It’s difficult to keep secrets when you have a direct line to another’s emotions and vice versa.” The Doctor states, waving my concern away. “Though, I should probably work on a contingency plan in case..” 

He trails off, heading over to the window and scanning the bars once again. 

“What are you doing?” Rose asks. 

“Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete, loosen the bars.” The Doctor replies, sounding distracted. 

She tilts her head, studying him. “You don't think he's coming back, do you?”

The Doctor looks back at her. “I wouldn't bet our lives.”

“Why don't you trust him?” Rose looks back and forth between us. “Either of you. Mabel knows him in the future and even then she doesn’t really trust him.”

The corners of my mouth turn down. That isn’t an answer I really want to get into right now. And I already know the Doctor doesn’t find out until later. 

The Doctor frowns as well, but his frown is directed to Rose. “Why do you?”

“He saved my life. Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing.” Pausing, Rose seems to really think about it. “I trust him because he's like you. Except with dating and dancing.” She receives two strange looks in return. “What?”

“I resent that, I date and dance, thank you very much.” The Doctor states, annoyed. 

“Yes.” I chime in. “I can confirm that he does indeed date and dance.”

Rose sticks out her tongue. “You two are an old married couple. I meant being mingly.”

Giving her a wry look, I shake my head. “So tell me about what happened when we got separated. You said something about a barrage balloon?”

“Oh, yeah. About two minutes after you guys left me. Thousands of feet above London, hanging there in the middle of a German air-raid, Union Jack all over my chest.” Rose explains. 

I wince thinking about the state her hands must be in. “That must have hurt.” 

Rose shrugs. “I honestly didn’t feel it at the time, then Captain Jack fixed me up.”

The Doctor jumps down from his vantage point near the window. “Oh, we're calling him Captain Jack now, are we?”

“Well, his name's Jack and he's a Captain.” She states, an amused look on her face in response to the Doctor’s annoyed one. 

“He's not really a Captain, Rose.” The Doctor explains. The world ripples around us, the walls of the storage room being replaced with the inside of a ship. “If ever he was a Captain, he's been defrocked.”

“Actually, I quit. Nobody takes my frock.” Jack states, smirking from the captain’s chair. “Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security.”

“You had to spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember whose ship it is.” The Doctor tells him, raising an eyebrow. 

Jack’s smirk turns even more lecherous, if that was possible. “Oh, I do. She was gorgeous. Like I told her, be back in five minutes.”

The Doctor rolls his eyes, then directs his attention to the ship itself. “This is a Chula ship.”

“Yeah, just like that medical transporter.” Jack responds. “Only this one is dangerous.”

Snapping his fingers, a golden glow surrounds the Doctor’s hand. Not the glow of regeneration, but something else instead. 

“They're what fixed my hands up Jack called them er-“ Rose frowns, trying to remember the word. 

“Nanobots?” The Doctor prompts. “Nanogenes.”

Rose nods. “Nanogenes, yeah.”

“Sub-atomic robots. There's millions of them in here, see?” The Doctor turns his hand to show us an unhurt patch of skin. “Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws.” He waves them away, then focusses on Jack. “Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk.”

“As soon as I get the nav-com back online.” Jack responds, giving us a look of impatience. “Make yourselves comfortable.”

Rose heads up to speak with Jack, but I take the chance to look around. The ship is full of bits and bobs. Eventually, I meander over to the bed and take a seat. The Doctor plops down next to me, a contemplative look on his face. “Wanna talk it through?” 

He shakes his head. “I don’t have anything concrete yet.” 

I hum in acknowledgement. From their position near the control console, Rose and Jack’s conversation catches my attention. Leaning into the Doctor, I tilt my head in his direction, like I’m paying attention to him and not the two talking on the other side of the room.

“So, you used to be a Time Agent and now you're trying to con them?” Rose asks Jack. 

Jack looks at her, devoid of his normal attitude. “If it makes me sound any better, it's not for the money.”

Rose tilts her head to the side. “For what?”

“Woke up one day when I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memories.” Jack explains. “I'd like them back.”

“They stole your memories?” Rose asks, confusion in her voice. 

“Two years of my life. No idea what I did. Your friends over there don't trust me, and for all I know they’re right not to.” A beep interrupts Jack speech, and he spins his chair around to face the front. “Okay, we're good to go. Crash site?”

Jack pilots us closer to the site, setting us down right outside the off limit’s area. He even directs us to an entrance that’s not patrolled very often. 

“There it is.” Jack states, face lighting up when he sees the guard. “Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important.”

“We've got to get past him.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“Are the words distract the guard heading in my general direction?” Rose asks, saucy smirk coming to her face. 

Jack laughs. “I don't think that'd be such a good idea.”

Rose raises an eyebrow. “Don't worry I can handle it.”

“I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town.” Jack tells her. “Trust me, you're not his type. I'll distract him.” He walks down the service entrance for a couple of steps, then turns around. “Don't wait up.”

Rose has a look of disbelief on her face when she turns to us. 

“Relax, he's a fifty first century guy.” The Doctor explains. “He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing.”

“How flexible?” Rose asks.

The Doctor looks at her, fighting to hold back a smile. I can feel how much fun he’s having with it. “Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy.”

Rose scowls, not pleased at all. “Meaning?”

“So many species, so little time.” The Doctor smirks. 

“What, that's what we do when we get out there?” Rose asks. “That's our mission? We seek new life, and, and-“

I lean across the Doctor and smirk at her myself. “Dance.”

She goes quiet, thinking about it. The Doctor looks over at me, obviously enjoying the byplay. I jerk my head towards the guards. We should really be watching to make sure Jack actually distracts this ‘Algy’ fellow.

It seems to be going successfully, but then Algy falls to his knees. I’m about to avert my eyes, trust Jack to go at it right there in public, but the sight of Algy’s face contorting outward makes it evident that the situation has become more dire than before. We take off towards Jack. “Don’t touch him!” 

Jack takes over, yelling at the other guards coming up to see what’s happening. “You men, stay away!”

We reach Jack and the newly infected Algy. The Doctor scowls down at them. “The effect's become air-borne, accelerating.”

“What's keeping us safe?” Rose asks. 

“Nothing.” He responds. 

The air raid sirens start up once more. 

“Ah, here they come again.” Jack looks up at the sky. 

“All we need.” Rose replies, a look of panic crossing her face. “Didn't you say a bomb was going to land here?”

“Never mind about that.” The Doctor scolds. “If the contaminants airborne now, there's hours left.”

More conversation happens around me, but my attention is caught by singing. Someone nearby is singing a lullaby. 

Heading in the direction the singing is coming from, it leads me to a little shack. Nancy is inside, there is an infected guard lying face down on the table next to her. She turns to look at me when I enter, pausing in her singing. I gesture for her to continue, and she does but she shakes her hand to bring my attention to the fact she’s handcuffed to the table. 

Quietly, I slip over and examine the handcuffs. Single lock mechanism. Easy. I pull the ring from my finger and slip the small piece of metal out from the inside of the ring. Inserting it into the side of the handcuff, I jiggle it around until the handcuff opens. 

I put it back inside my ring, placing the ring back on my finger, and hurry out of the shack with Nancy. 

The Doctor’s scowling face greets us as soon as I turn around from closing the door behind us. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“You were busy preaching about the end of days, so I went and investigated.” I respond, voice sharp. 

He grimaces at me but doesn’t respond. I look over at Nancy and shake my head mouthing the word ‘men’. 

She brings a hand up to cover her slight smile. 

With the guards to afraid to approach now that one of their own has ‘transformed’ it’s easy to make our way over to the chula ambulance. 

Jack turns the spot lights on, and the Doctor and I pull a tarp up and off of the thing. 

“You see? Just an ambulance.” Jack states. 

“That's an ambulance?” Nancy asks. 

Rose puts an arm around her shoulders. “It's hard to explain. It's from another world.”

Jack presses a couple of button on the side of the ambulance, frowning. “They've been trying to get in.

“Of course they have.” The Doctor scoffs. “They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon.” He pauses, watching as Jack inputs some kind of code in the keypad. “What're you doing?”

“The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it.” Jack responds, but something goes wrong and sparks shoot out of the panel. An alarm starts, and a red light starts flashing on the screen. The Doctor sends him an accusatory look. Jack purses his lips in response. “Didn't happen last time.”

“It hadn't crashed last time. There'll be emergency protocols.” The Doctor responds. 

“Doctor, what is that?” Rose asks, eyes fixed on the red flashing light. 

“Nothing good.” I reply, having a feeling that everything is about to go to shit. 

The gates on the far side of the fence start rocking back and forth, like someone is trying to get in. I take off towards them immediately. Placing a board across the front so it won’t be so easy to open, and then moving on to the next gate. 

Jack runs up at this point, helping me close them. We place a board across this as well. 

“This isn’t going to hold them off for long.” I mutter, frustrated.

Jack nods in agreement. “But it’ll buy us some time.”

We hurry back to the ambulance and Jack finishes imputing his codes, finally getting the door open. “It's empty. Look at it.”

The Doctor crosses his arms. “What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops?” He looks down at his companion. “Rose?”

Rose shakes her head. “I don't know.” 

“Oh god.” I murmur, finally getting it. 

The Doctor nods at me. “Mabel gets it. C’mon Rose, you know this.” 

“Nanogenes!” Rose exclaims, realization crossing her face. 

“It wasn't empty, Captain.” The Doctor tells Jack. “There was enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species.”

Jack looks down at the ambulance, horror blooming on his face. “Oh, God.”

“Getting it now, are we?” The Doctor scoffs. “When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gasmask.”

“And they brought him back to life? They can do that?” Rose looks disbelieving. 

The Doctor looks at her. “What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before.” I can feel his anger, simmering underneath everything, and it’s about to boil over. I don’t think I can blame him. “Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left. But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done.” 

“Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest.” The Doctor continues. “And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!”

“I didn't know.” Jack defends himself. 

The Doctor shakes his head. I can feel that his anger has been spent now, and all that’s left is disappointment. He gets off the top of the ambulance and starts running his screwdriver over the side. 

“Rose!” I hear Nancy call out, and look up only to see a crowd of gas masked people slowly marching towards us. 

Kneeling down next to the Doctor, I match his grim look. “The ambulance, it’s calling the infected people to us isn’t it?” Ever since the red light started flashing, I had a feeling something like that was going to happen. 

“The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“But the gas mask people aren't troops.” Rose responds. 

“They are now.” The Doctor states. “This is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, program you.”

“That's why the child's so strong.” Rose says in realization. “Why it could do that phoning thing.”

The Doctor nods. “It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes. All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old looking for his mummy. And now there's an army of them.”

The infected create a perimeter around the area we are in, but don’t come any closer. 

“Why don't they attack?” Jack asks, looking out at them. 

“Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander.” The Doctor explains, pocketing his screwdriver.

Jack looks over his shoulder at us, eyes watery. “The child?”

“Jamie.” Nancy interrupts, voice sharp.

“What?” Jack asks her. 

“Not the child.” Nancy states. “Jamie.”

“So how long until the bomb falls?” Rose asks, looking around uncomfortably. 

Jack looks at her, fear in his eyes as well. “Any second.”

“What's the matter, Captain?” The Doctor asks. “A bit close to the volcano for you?”

Nancy lowers her head. It’s obvious she’s crying. “He's just a little boy.”

I put a hand on her shoulder. “I know.”

“He's just a little boy who wants his mummy.” She continues. 

“I know.” The Doctor tells her. “There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can.”

“So what're we going to do?” Rose asks, urgency in her voice. 

“I don’t know.” The Doctor admits. 

“It's my fault.” Nancy whispers, shaking her head.

“No.” The Doctor denies, about to say more but I cut him off with a wave of my hand. There’s been this itch, something I couldn’t quite figure out. And I think I’ve just done it. 

“Wait, before we go placing blame anywhere.” I look at Nancy, ignoring the Doctors frown. “We’re about to die so you may as well tell us the truth.”

Nancy shakes her head. 

“Your story has hole in it. You say Jaime is your brother, okay. But he’s calling for his mother.” I wait a moment, then continue. “Could be that she died recently, but I don’t think so. You are very good at moving unseen. It takes time to learn skills like that. So, you were already living on the streets.”

The Doctor’s clued into the narrative by now. “Nancy, what age are you? Older than you look, I assume.”

“Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds.” Jack says, it’s clear that’s he’s torn between what to do. 

“You can teleport us out.” Rose states. 

Jack shakes his head. “Not you guys. The nav-com's back online. Going to take too long to override the protocols.”

The Doctor doesn’t take his eyes from Nancy. “So it's volcano day. Do what you've got to do.”

Rose looks over at Jack. “Jack?”

It doesn’t take the lack of response to realize that Jack has disappeared. 

“How old were you five years ago? Fifteen? Sixteen?” The Doctor asks Nancy. “Old enough to give birth, anyway.” 

“He’s not your brother.” I continue. “A teenage single mother in 1941. And so you hid. And you lied. You even lied to him.”

The gate at the front of the bomb site slams open. Jaime stands there. “Are you my mummy?”

“He's going to keep asking, Nancy. He's never going to stop.” The Doctor states. 

“Mummy?” Jamie asks again. 

“Tell him.” The Doctor urges. “Nancy, the future of the human race is in your hands. Trust me and tell him.”

Nancy takes a hesitant step in Jamie’s direction, one step turns into two, which turns into three. 

Jamie stops a foot away from Nancy. “Are you my mummy?”

“Yes. Yes, I am your mummy.” Nancy tells him, tears in her voice. 

“Mummy?” Jamie repeats. 

Nancy kneels down. “I'm here.”

Jamie tilts his head. “Are you my mummy?”

“Yes.” Nancy breaths. 

“He doesn't understand. There's not enough of him left.” The Doctor says. I reach out and lay a hand on his arm. 

“I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry.” Nancy leans forward and hugs Jamie. A cloud of nanogenes becomes visible around the two of them. 

“What's happening?” Rose asks. “Doctor, it's changing her, we should-“

“Shush!” The Doctor interrupts her. “Come on, please. Come on, you clever little nanogenes. Figure it out! The mother, she's the mother. It's got to be enough information. Figure it out.”

“You mean?” I look over at him, scarcely daring to hope. 

“See? Recognizing the same DNA.” The Doctor points at the cloud. 

Jamie lets go and Nancy falls to the ground. The Doctor runs forward, pulling me along with him. 

“Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one.” The Doctor breathes, carefully pulling Jamie’s gas mask off before I can stop him. 

Wait. He pulled Jamie’s gas mask off. 

“Ha-ha!” The Doctor crows, lifting Jamie up and hugging him. “Welcome back! Twenty years till pop music - you're going to love it.”

“What happened?” Nancy demands. 

“The nanogenes recognized the superior information, the parent DNA. They didn't change you because you changed them!” He sets Jamie down. “Ha-ha! Mother knows best!”

Nancy pulls Jamie into a hug of her own. “Oh, Jamie.”

A bomb explodes from nearby. Rose puts a hand on the Doctor’s arm. “Doctor, that bomb.”

“Taken care of it.” The Doctor informs her. 

“How.” Rose asks. 

The Doctor beams. “Psychology.”

Ah, Jack. 

Like it was called by our thoughts, the sound of a bomb becomes clearer. A spaceship shoots out of nowhere, catching the bomb in some sort of stasis field. For some reason Jack then beams himself so that he’s sitting astride the bomb. “Doctor!”

“Good lad!” The Doctor calls back. 

“Jack Harkness! What in the hell are you doing sitting astride that bomb like you’re riding a bull?” I can’t help but scold him. Of all the dumbass things for a person to do. 

Jack smirks. “Sorry Ma’am, couldn’t help myself.” Face falling, he looks back over at the Doctor. “The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long.”

“Change of plan. Don't need the bomb.” The Doctor informs him. “Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?”

Jack nods. “Rose?” 

I look away, noticing the Doctor doing the same thing next to me. It’s probably best to give them some privacy. 

While I file their conversation as background noise, ‘nice shirt?’ really Jack? I notice that the Doctor has brought his hands up and is staring at them intently. 

“What are you doing?” I ask him. 

The Doctor beams at me. “Software patch. Going to email the upgrade.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Check out these moves!” Throwing his arms out, the nanogenes move in a wave towards the patients who are still zombified. They all fall to the ground. 

“Everybody lives, Mabel. Just this once, everybody lives!” The Doctor laughs, sounding so very happy about that fact. 

All of the zombified people stand up, gas masks gone, looking very confused. The Doctor darts over to talk to Doctor Constantine, leaving us behind. I love over at Rose, who looks back at me and can’t help but laugh. “That impossible man.”

“Yeah, he is, isn’t he?” Rose agrees, laughing as well. 

The Doctor rushes back, getting on top of the Chula medical ship and pressing a few buttons. Looking out at the crowd of people, he raises his voice to be heard. “Right, you lot. Lots to do. Beat the Germans, save the world. Don't forget the welfare state!” Leaning down, he addresses us now. “Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear. History says there was an explosion here. Who am I to argue with history?”

“Usually the first in line.” Rose points out, but the Doctor just smiles at her. 

Jumping down from the ship, he’s almost skipping with joy. It arcs over the connection making me feel like I’m bouncing on a cloud myself. 

We head back to the Tardis, a short walk now that we aren’t going on any detours.

“The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off.” The Doctor tells us, walking through the doors to the Tardis. “Because that’s what I just told them to do. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered, fantastic!”

“Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas.” Rose states, returning his infectious grin. 

The Doctor gives her a look. “Who says I'm not, red bicycle when you were twelve?”

Rose’s face goes slack in shock. “What?”

“And everybody lives, Rose! Everybody lives! I need more days like this.” He continues. 

I send my own look his way, one of exasperation. “I know you’re super hyped right now, but we aren’t done yet.”

His face twitches, realization setting in. 

“We can’t call it as everybody lives if there’s still one person left.” I tell him. 

Nodding, the Doctor sets the coordinates. We materialize, I assume it’s the right place and Rose opens the door. 

Then comes the depressing sound of Jack talking to his own computer and sipping what looks to be a martini. With a mischievous look, I turn to the Doctor. 

He smirks back at me, pressing a button and causing Moonlight Serenade to start playing. I match his smirk with one of my own, pulling him towards me. And then, we start to dance. 

Rose has a longsuffering look on her face, as if she’s seen far too much of us being mushy but doesn’t say anything. There is a shift of movement from the door, and I hear her voice ring out. “Well, hurry up then!”

“And close the door, will you? Your ship's about to blow up. There's going to be a draft.” The Doctor chimes in, not looking away from me. In fact, he’s so smooth that he reaches out on one of our circuits around the console and manages to pull the dematerialization lever without interrupting the rhythm of the dance. 

“Oh you think you’re so slick, don’t you?” I tease. 

“Oh, I know I am.” He responds, dipping me for the final part of the song. 

Okay. I’ll give him that one. 

“Much bigger on the inside.” Jack states, looking around with awe. 

“Welcome to the Tardis.” Pulling back from the Doctor, I send a smile in Jack’s direction. 

A new song comes on, this one more upbeat then the last one. 

Rose waggles her eyebrows at Jack, who takes the invitation and starts twirling her around the room. 

The Doctor sweeps me up as well, and soon the console room is full of laughter and good cheer. It’s almost like a drug. The feeling of happiness suffusing the room. I feel high on it. The Doctor isn’t any better, beaming away like he’s just remembered how. 

But all good things must come to an end, and the energy starts to wind down as people start to get tired, or at least as the humans get tired. Rose makes her excuses, taking Jack with her to show him a room. Then it’s just the Doctor and I, together in a room, dancing. Though it isn’t really dancing anymore, just two people pressed together, swaying back and forth. 

I smooth a hand along the collar of his jacket. “You did a good job out there today.”

The Doctor hums, staring down at me with a soft expression.

“The world is content, for the time being.” I continue. “What does the Doctor wish to do now?”

“I can think of one thing.” He responds, his heavy gaze making it evident what he’s speaking of. 

Laughing, I run my hands down his chest and loop my fingers into his belt loops. “I’m thinking that can be arranged.”

And then, well, I once again get proof that the Doctor does indeed dance.


	15. Independence (Under the lake/before the flood)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Finals have been kicking my ass, so I decided to ignore them and write 20,000 words for this fic instead. 
> 
> Smart idea, right?
> 
> Anyways, hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> -RainingCoffee
> 
> PS. There is sex in this chapter, right at the beginning.

I curse, stumbling as I try to figure out where I am now. 

“Mabel!” A female voice exclaims, a hand coming around my arm to steady me. 

I’m thankful for it, even as my face falls into a sour expression.

A throat is cleared from behind us, and we both whirl around. The Doctor is standing there, arms crossed, looking unimpressed. “Is there a reason you are holding onto the arm of my partner while she’s dripping on the grating?”

The woman, who still has a hold of my arm by the way, tightens her fingers and gives the Doctor a cheeky look. “I was helping her, she would have fallen flat on her face if it wasn’t for me.” Still smiling, she turns to me instead. “Besides, I’m still waiting for my chance. Maybe if I sweep you off your feet enough, you’ll give up on the lug over there and choose me instead.”

I bark out a laugh, charmed despite myself. Turning to look at the Doctor, I send him a smirk. “Oh please tell me I was the one who picked her.” 

He grumbles, moving from his spot and heading towards us. Removing his coat as he does so, he uses it to cover my body. “It was more like she was the one who choose us.”

“Wait, what?” The woman asks, eyes flickering between the both of us. 

“Haven’t met you yet, but I’m most definitely looking forward to it.” I tell her, slipping my hand up out of the top of the coat and wiggling my fingers to say hello. 

“I’m right here.” The Doctor blusters, though I can tell he isn’t really mad, just amused. “Stop flirting with Clara.” 

Raising an eyebrow, I turn my head to look at him. “But she’s so sassy.” 

“And you like sassy, I remember.” He mutters, rolling his eyes. 

“You’re sassy too, this go around.” I beam, delighted by the discovery. 

The Doctor smiles, just a little. “Shush now, Mabel. You’ll make an old man blush.”

I tilt my head to the side, studying him. While his hair may be grey this go around, he feels lighter than normal. And honestly… “I don’t see an old man here. Just the Doctor.” 

Clara coughs lightly in the background. 

Placing his hands on my shoulders, the Doctor pushes me towards the hallway. “Alright, Alright. No overt pda in front of the companion.”

I look over my shoulder, catching site of Clara’s amused expression as we go deeper into the Tardis. “Since when?”

“Since Clara got tired of walking in on us.” He mumbles, a mix of embarrassment and laughter in his voice.

“I’m liking this Clara more and more.” I can’t help but tease. 

The Doctor grumbles once again, letting go of my shoulders and just picking me up, jacket and all. 

I ooph, twining my arms around his neck for more leverage. “What’s the hurry sweetheart?”

He takes a deep breath, eyes darkening in response. His side of the connection is humming with energy. “You smell..delicious.”

Flushing in response, I hide my face in his neck. I can’t believe he just said that. 

“Did you just jump from the me with the leather jacket?” The Doctor asks, voice an octave lower than before. 

“Yes.” I respond. 

Humming, he inhales once more. “Increased pheromones, I’m fairly certain I know exactly where you just jumped from.”

I smother my face further into his neck, embarrassment making my face light up. “Yes, I’d imagine you do.” 

“No need to be embarrassed.” The Doctor murmurs, dipping his head so that he’s speaking directly in my ear. 

“I can’t believe that I jumped right then.” I mumble, not happy about the fact that I had jumped right before we had gotten to the good part. And it was leather jacket who I had jumped from, there was just something about him…

He laughs. “You always did have a preference for leather jacket.” 

Pulling my head back from his neck, I peek at his face. “You aren’t..upset at that.?” He doesn’t feel upset, but you can never be fully certain.

“No.” The Doctor’s face is fond. “Each of us have our own personal favorites when it comes to the bodies of the other.” 

Huh.

A surge of affection rushes through me for this man. I beam up at him, fingers playing with the fine strands of hair at the back of his neck. 

He shivers once again, eyes getting just the slightest bit darker. Hiding the satisfied tilt to my mouth into the skin of his neck, I slowly drag my lips across the available space. 

“Mabel.” The Doctor scolds. 

I hum, tongue coming out to trace along the same path. The Doctor stumbles, arms tightening around me to ensure that I don’t fall. 

When the Doctor next speaks, his voice is strained. “You minx.”

“You don’t seem to mind.” I laugh, breath hitching at the way his fingers tighten on my leg. “Are we close to our room yet?”

It takes a few seconds for the Doctor too respond, distracted by the way I've just swirled my finger along the side of his neck. "I have no idea." 

"A room?" I ask, nipping at the bottom of his chin. "Any room at all?" 

He makes a noise of frustration, abruptly turning to the left and shouldering his way into what looks to be a closet. Using the leverage of my hands around his neck, I pull myself up to kiss him properly. 

Moaning into my mouth, I feel his arm arc out behind me, the sound of multiple things hitting the ground filling the air. He sets me down in the area he just cleared off and I make a noise of appreciation. The new position I'm in is the perfect height for me to sit right in the cradle of his hips. 

Using my legs, I hook them around his hips and pull him closer. The heat of him through his clothing is intoxicating. 

The Doctor dips his head down to press kisses along my neck. Kisses which quickly devolve into open mouth nips. He focuses on my pulse point, sucking in time to the beat of my hearts. Each pull from his mouth sends an arc of arousal straight to my center. 

Raising my hands to touch him back earns me a growl, as the Doctor lifts his mouth from my neck. 

I blink at him in confusion, brain not quite working properly. "Why did you stop?" 

"I want you to keep your hands on the table." The Doctor murmurs, voice dark with promise. "Can you do that for me Mabel?" 

My hands twitch, the need to touch him almost overpowering. His hands come up to cover mine, lowering them back to the table and curling my fingers around the edge. 

"You can do that for me, can't you Mabel?" The Doctor reiterates, eyes intent on mine. "Just keep your hands on the table and let me touch you." 

"Doctor." I manage to get out, voice unsteady. His words are making my body burn. 

Nostrils flaring, the Doctor gives me a look of satisfaction. He can obviously tell the effect he's having on me. 

The Doctor reaches out, fingers of both hands sliding along the sides of my neck and maneuvering me into a kiss. He tilts my head to the exact position he wants it to be in, deepening the kiss into something filthy and wet and absolutely perfect. 

By the time he pulls back from the kiss, I'm sopping wet, and I can smell my own arousal in the air. His fingers trail down the side of my neck and follow the lines of my body until they reach my legs. There, he encourages me to spread further apart. 

I whine, feeling a droplet of slick slide from my body to the desk below me. 

The Doctor shushes me, kneeling down, which places his face exactly in front of where I want it. I tighten my fingers on the desk, the urge to grab onto his hair and pull him closer flaring up. He sends me a heated look, aware of the conflicting feelings swirling around inside of me, full of smug male satisfaction at the fact. Our connection is humming. Anticipation and arousal a heady mixture. 

Finally, after an age, the Doctor moves closer. His breath feathers across my lips and I clench just from thinking about how it's going to feel. 

"So eager." The Doctor murmurs. "So wet for me."

Before I can gather my thoughts and respond, his tongue extends out and licks a stripe straight up my center. A strangled sound is torn from me as I arch my back to try and get more friction. 

Hands coming up, the Doctor restrains my legs, taking away even the leverage the desk offers me. Then he dips his head once more and laps at what has become the center of my world. Everything narrows down to the sensation of his tongue, and the pleasure it is drawing from me. 

He drives me through two orgasms, and almost into a third one, before he abruptly pulls back. I whine in confusion, hardly able to think through the urgency. The sound of a zipper sliding down reaches me and then the most welcome feeling in the world, his own arousal pressing against mine. 

I rock against him, leaning my head up for a kiss, uncaring of the mess on his face. His eyes are dilated, intent on me. 

The Doctor pushes forward, sliding into me in one easy stroke. He throws his head back at the feeling of my body accepting him. 

"Mabel." He grits out, voice strained. 

I laugh breathlessly, arching my back and pushing him further into my body. 

The Doctor starts rocking against me, little thrusts, never pulling out. It drives me wild. The sensation building until I'm screaming with it. 

"Doctor." I call out, panting. "Doctor please." 

"Almost there, aren't you Mabel?" The Doctor asks, breath feathering against my ear. "You just need one little push." 

Throwing the connection open and practically slamming against the pleasure centers of my mind, the Doctor provides that last push. I implode, body squeezing around his even as he pushes himself just the slightest bit deeper into me with his own completion. 

There is a pause, then the Doctor collapses on top of me, blanketing my body with his own. Little aftershocks shoot through me, each one drawing an appreciative sound from the Doctor as well. 

It takes a few minutes, but my breathing starts to quiet, heart rate slowing back to normal. I release my hands from their grip on the table, flexing my stiff fingers. The Doctor slowly leans back, gently rubbing one hand and then the other, placing a kiss on each one after he’s done. 

The action also allows me to very plainly see the ring on his ring finger, one I had noticed the last time I’d jumped to this Doctor. A ring from me? I’d very clearly think so at this point in time.

“You are such a sap.” I can’t help but tease, smiling at him. 

He hums, brushing a piece of my hair away from my face. “Always.”

Affection swells in my body for this man, even as my hips try give a twinge from being in the same position for such a long time. “As much as I don’t want to move, if we don’t shift position soon I’m not entirely sure I’ll be able to walk out of here.”

Putting his hands on my hips, the Doctor gently pulls himself out of me, ignoring my hiss of displeasure. 

Leaning up for a kiss, one that he immediately responds to, I enjoy the unhurried nature of it. Now that I’m paying attention to it, I can almost feel my body cataloging what the information means. The Doctor is happy, satisfied, and completely content in this moment. 

A burst of male satisfaction bleeds over from our connection. Burying his nose in my neck, the Doctor inhales once again. “Hmm, increased levels of Dopamine and Oxytocin.” 

I snack a hand against his back lightly. “Stop feeling so smug.” 

“Never.” He laughs. 

xxxx

After my second shower of the day, and one for the Doctor as well, we head off to look for our abandoned companion. 

“She’s going to know exactly what we just did.” I say, slightly anxious over the fact. It’s one thing for them to suspect, but we were gone for such a long time that it was incredibly obvious what we had just gotten up to. 

The Doctor rolls his eyes, placing his customary hand on to the small of my back and directing me down the hallway. “Clara is used to us going off by now.” 

I hum, still not convinced. “Maybe, but that was rude.” 

“Why is this bothering you so much?” The Doctor asks, pausing and turning his head to meet my eyes with his own. 

“She seems important.” I murmur. “I don’t want her to have a bad impression of me.” He throws his head back and laughs in my face. Any anxiousness I’m feeling immediately turns to anger. “Are you laughing at me?”

“Yes, I am laughing at you.” The Doctor sasses, wiggling his eyebrows. “Clara thinks that you are single handedly responsible for all the good things that have ever happened in the world. Trust me, this isn’t going to change her opinion of you in any way.”

He reaches out and closes my mouth, tapping my nose afterwards. 

A flush spreads across the bridge of my nose involuntarily. The sass…I really like it. 

“I know.” The Doctor tells me, smirking. 

Now the smugness? Not so much. 

“And you are very wrong about that.” He continues, smirk settling into something sweeter. 

Okay. Maybe he’s right about that as well. “Shut up.” I grumble, pressing back further into his hand. 

The Doctor laughs. “Not a chance.” 

Rolling my eyes, I shoo him off, turning to take in the new console room that we’ve made it to. I had briefly noticed it earlier, but it hadn’t exactly registered. The new desktop is gorgeous. It was a step away from the organic look she had taken a liking to in the Doctor’s later regenerations and something a bit closer to the clean cut lines the earlier regenerations had favored. 

This desktop was a combination of metal and efficiency, with an upper level that has bookcases full of books, as well as all sorts of other knickknacks. While the orange, coral, theme bow tie favored had looked homey, this desktop looked lived in. 

“So what do you think?” The Doctor asks, leaning against the railing from the upper level. 

“Oh, she’s gorgeous.” I breathe out, eyes fixed on the top of the rotor where Gallifreyan writing is evident on each panel. 

The Tardis burbles, warmth bubbling in the spot of my mind that is reserved for her. 

The Doctor hums, drawing my attention. “You always say that.” 

I raise an eyebrow. “That’s cause she always is.” 

“Can’t exactly argue with you there.” He murmurs, leaning back and turning to go do something else.

Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the dematerialization flip over by itself. And suddenly, we are in flight. 

“What’s that for?” The Doctor exclaims, catching himself on the railing as the sudden shift throws him around.

I shake my head, trying not to put my hands on anything I shouldn’t while also trying to hold on to something. “It wasn’t me. The Tardis took off by herself.”

The abrupt departure ends just as suddenly as it started, the Tardis groaning in the aftermath. 

“What was that?” I ask her, touching the rotor. 

The Doctor clambers down the steps. Heading over to the monitor, he presses a few buttons and then frowns at the information he receives. 

The Tardis presses the urge to leave the console room against my mind, and I’m already heading towards the door before I can consciously think about it. 

"Was that us moving? Please tell me that was us moving to somewhere else, and that means the two of you are finished." Clara calls out, footsteps loud as she enters the console room. 

I take the opportunity to slip out the door, sparing a brief glance at the space around us before turning my attention back to the Tardis. 

The Doctor appears at the door as well, giving a concerned look to the box. "What wrong?" 

The Tardis grumbles. 

"You aren't happy. Why did you bring us here if you aren't happy about it?" I ask her, touching the door gently. I get a sense of frustration from her, as if she wishes to tell me but can't. 

Clara peeks around the corner. "C'mon, monsters, blowing things up." She lights up, beaming at the both of us. "Oh, hey, can we go back to that place where the people with the long necks have been celebrating New Year for two centuries? I left my sunglasses there. And most of my dignity. 

I shake my head. "Unfortunately, there will be no leaving right this moment. She brought us here for a reason." 

Peering at the space around us, the Doctor runs a finger along the wall. "Underwater." He states, pulling a handkerchief from his packet to wipe his finger off. "Some sort of a base. The technology's twenty second century. Maybe military, maybe scientific." 

"Is there a crew?" Clara asks, disappointment forgotten now that there seems to be a mystery. 

"Must be, somewhere, if there's oxygen." The Doctor murmurs, heading down the corridor with Clara hot on his heels. 

I close the door, making sure no one else can get in, before following after them. 

“I want another adventure.” Clara states, turning when I catch up to them and putting an arm around my shoulder. “Come on, you two feel the same. You're itching to save a planet, I know it.”

Not…particularly? Right now all I want to do is figure out why the Tardis is acting strange. The Doctor brushes his hand against mine and I get a hint of longsuffering patience. 

Huh. Long-term problem then. We’ll have to work at that. 

“Mabel.” Clara calls out, voice serious now. “Look at that.” 

Turning my attention from the Doctor, I look in the direction that Clara is indicating and pause. “Well something definitely happened here.”

“Looks like you got your wish Clara.” The Doctor murmurs, brushing past us and heading over to the counter. 

The place that we’ve stumbled upon looks like it is a mess hall of sorts, but it didn’t look like the last encounter here did anyone any good. Chairs are overturned, plates of food abandoned on the table. Even a cooler door was left open. 

There is even a knife sticking out of the wall.

“Food fight?” Clara offers, shrugging. 

I slip out from under her arm and give her a look. “What kind of food fights have you been a part of?”

“I think there was more to it than that.” The Doctor states, sticking his finger into a cup of tea. “Whatever it was, it happened pretty recently. I’s say about seven or eight hours ago.”

“You are full of it.” I tell him, watching as he wipes the tea off his finger. “There’s no way you can tell that from cold tea.”

He smiles at me briefly, before pointing to something that’s behind me. “No, but that clock is broken. Probably broke when it fell.” 

Spinning, I take in the clock that’s leaning against the wall on the ground. 10:55. Huh. He was right. 

“Observation, dear.” The Doctor murmurs. Raising his voice, he addresses Clara as well. “No bodies though.”

“And they took provisions.” Clara states, closing the cabinet behind her. “Okay, so something or someone forced the crew to abandon the base. Maybe they went for a swim in the creepy flooded village outside?”

“Maybe.” I respond, thinking it through. Though, if they had fled with provisions the chance was good that they hadn’t gone out ‘for a swim’. Unless they had some sort of machine that could also carry the provisions with them. 

“Oh, yeah. You see, this is more like it.” Clara beams, raising her hand for a high five. 

The Doctor looks at the hand, then back to her face. 

A small tug on my arm has me joining the him, backing the both of us away from her slowly. 

“Oh, come on.” She complains. “Don't leave me hanging.”

Sorry Clara. I hide my smile in the shoulder of his jacket, waiting for the footsteps I know are coming. Sure enough, right when we go out of sight, Clara hurries to join us. 

The three of us walk down the corridor, turning left at the next intersection and going through an automatic door. 

“Look. Told you. Crew.” The Doctor states, the first person to see the two individuals crouching next to something further along the hall. “Hello, sailors!”

The men freeze, standing up and turning to face us. A jolt of apprehension runs through me. They are both see through, with black caverns where their eyes should be, lips moving as if they are trying to say something. 

“Right, I did not expect that. Hands up who expected that.” The Doctor murmurs, a hand on my shoulder keeping me from taking a step back like I wanted to. 

The ghosts walk towards us. 

Clara takes a step back instead, but the Doctor shakes his head. “Wait, wait. I don't think they're going to hurt us. I think that they're just curious.”

“Curious?” I hiss, completely uncomfortable with the situation. 

One of the ghosts, an individual wearing what looks to be a suit, continues to advance until he’s only an inch away from me, leaning his face even closer. 

“Are you sure?” Clara asks, voice an octave higher than usual.

“Well, I mean, define sure.” The Doctor replies, watching the ghost that’s in front of me intently. “Look at you lovely chaps. What's happened to you, then?”

Predictably, the ghosts don’t respond. But they do take a step back and walk past us down the hall. All the while their lips are still moving. 

The Doctor walks down the hallway after them, gesturing for us to follow as well. 

Clara sends him a look that he pretends not to see. “What are they?”

“I haven't a clue.” He responds, teeth flashing as he smiles. “Isn't that exciting?”

“Exciting until they try to kill us.” I mutter, not happy with the fact that we are following the ghosts that just mean mugged us. 

Ghosts man. This is a sure fire way to get killed if this was a horror movie. 

During my internal rant the ghosts had disappeared through a door at the end of the hallway. When we got close enough and the doors whoosh open, they’ve disappeared. How predictable.

“Where did they go?” Clara asks, before her attention is drawn to the large white spaceship in the middle of the room. “What is this, some kind of submarine?”

“No, it's alien.” The Doctor corrects, shooting me a confused look. “Are you okay?”

Ah, so he has picked up on my apprehension. 

“I don’t like ghosts. They’re creepy.” Shrugging at the look that gets me, I study the room. “I also can’t help but feel this in one big trap.”

He grabs my hand, squeezing it while giving me an encouraging smile. “I could, or it could not be a trap. You can’t deny it’s interesting though.” 

“You have me there.” Grudgingly, I take a step forward into the spaceship. The Doctor face lights up and he pulls me the rest of the way in, dropping my hand once we are inside.

There is a table in the middle, taking up most of the space. But most interesting part are the symbols carved into the wall. The rough edges tell me that they hadn’t originally been there. I nudge the Doctor and gesture for him to look at the symbols himself. 

The Doctor hums. “That's weird. The Tardis hasn't translated it.”

Clara turns to see what we are looking at, picking up a flashlight that had been sitting on the table and shining it over the symbols. 

After she does so, there is a noise from outside of the ship, a sort of hum. Clara turns to look, setting down the flashlight. “Hey, look, they’re back.”

Rounding the table, the Doctor smiles at the ghosts who are close to the back wall. “Hello! Did you want to show us this? It's very nice.”

Clara narrows her eyes, glancing at me. “Wait, are they saying something?”

“I think so.” I murmur, putting a hand on both of their arms. The one ghost grabs an axe from the wall. God, I hate being right sometimes. “I think it’s a good idea to leave now.” 

“Yes, I think so too.” The Doctor responds. 

Pulling them down the stairs, I hurry my steps as the other ghost grabs a harpoon gun from the wall as well. 

“Was it something they said?” The Doctor asks. “That happens. They once had an argument with Gandhi!” 

A sharp tug on his arm has him safely out of the way of the axe swing that was heading in his direction. “Less banter, more running!” 

“Yes dear!” He replies as we hurry through the door. Just in time too, as the sound of something impacting it reaches our ears. 

“I'm starting to see why the crew did a runner.” Clara murmurs, glancing back at the door we just went through. 

The ghosts come through the door, though the good news is that it doesn’t seem like they can bring the weapons with them. What follows is a game of cat and mouse, with us being the mouse. Eventually we lose them, rounding a corner and hiding behind some bulkhead struts as we try to regain our breath. 

Or at least I thought we had outrun them, but the arm coming through the wall behind us kind of ruins that. So does the ghost coming up through the floor behind us as we try and back away from the one coming through the wall.

There is only one way else to go, so I take it. “C’mon!” I tug on Clara and the Doctor’s arms. 

Clara is the first to take off, with the Doctor right behind her. At the end of the hallway there seems to be a different type of door than there have been all around the rest of the base. Also, we seem to have found the rest of the crew.

The door opens, a woman gesturing wildly for us to enter. “In here! Quick!” As soon as we are inside, they close the door behind us, backing away as the ghosts get closer. 

The ghosts don’t come up to the glass, but don’t enter the room. 

“What are you?” The Doctor murmurs, studying them just as they seem to be studying us. 

Almost as if in response to his inquiry, they turn and leave. Their lips are still moving, saying something to themselves. 

“Who the hell are you, and what are you doing here?” One of the men in the cage demands, disapproval on his face. 

I turn, noting Clara and the Doctor doing the same to my left. “I’m Mabel, this is the Doctor and Clara.” 

The Doctor pulls the psychic paper out of his pocket and shows it to group of people in the room. 

“You're from UNIT.” A different man states, almost accusingly. 

“Well, if that's what it says.” The Doctor shrugs.

The same man nods, gesturing to different man beside him. “I'm Pritchard, this is Bennett.”

“O'Donnell!” A woman with a baseball cap chimes in, face lighting up as she steps forward to shake the Doctor’s hand. “Are you really the Doctor? I'm a huge fan!” O’Donnell seems to realize that she’s being a little too enthusiastic and calms herself. “I mean, er, you know. Nice work.”

“Nice to meet you O’Donnell.” I take a step forward, smile sharp. I pointedly eye the hand she has yet to drop. 

O’Donnell flushes, dropping the hand at once as she takes a step backwards. 

The Doctor glances over at me, humor in his expression. I will my own face not to flush. There is nothing wrong with not wanting someone else to fangirl over your partner/future husband. 

The last man, which was also the first man who spoke to us, speaks up while gesturing over to the woman next to him. “Tim Lunn, I sign for Cass.”

“Tell me, what about those things out there?” The Doctor looks around at the group. “What are they? Why are they trying to kill us?”

“Well, they're er, they're ghosts.” Bennett states, sounding unsure. 

The Doctor gives him a look. “They're not ghosts.”

Cass starts to sign and Tim translates. “Cass is saying-“

“Thank you, but I actually don't need your help. I can speak sign.” The Doctor interrupts, leaning down closer to Cass’s face. Signing as he says the next words. “Go ahead.”

Judging by the look on Cass’s face, those weren’t actually signs, but she starts signing anyways. There is a few seconds of silence as the Doctor attempts to understand before I get an intense burst of his embarrassment. 

I roll my eyes, pulling him back from Cass’s face. ‘Sorry.’ I sign, making a fist on my chest and moving it in a clockwise circle. Pointing at the Doctor, I then sign embarrassed, making an exaggerated face at the same time.

Cass’s face had lit up when I started signing and she giggles when I finish. She makes the sign for ‘Okay’

“You know BSL?” Tim asks me, signing so that Cass can still be a part of the conversation. 

“I learned ASL primarily.” I tell him, racking my brain for the correct signs. Tim seems content to let me translate for myself. “But I did take an intro course for BSL, because I was interested in differences between the two. So I know some signs, but I’d be lost in a bigger conversation.” Finishing with my signs, rudimentary as they are, I give them an embarrassed look.

That was just as hard as I remember it being when we tried it in class. Translating is hard, kudos to Tim. 

“I didn’t know you knew ASL.” The Doctor chimes in, recovered from his earlier embarrassment. His face falls into a pout. “How come I’ve never known you could sign?” 

I raise an eyebrow at him. “Probably because you just told me that you didn’t find out until now.” 

He pauses. “Good point.” 

“Anyways.” I shake my head at how far we’ve gone off topic, turning back to Cass. It isn’t an extraordinary thing that I know sign language, it’s just like knowing any other language. “Can you tell us about the ghosts?” Stumbling over the sign for ghosts, which Tim helpfully shows me, I smile at him in thanks and finish the question. 

Cass starts signing, while Tim translates for her. “One of the ghosts is our previous commanding officer. The other, um moley guy, we don't know what he is.”

I was right, there were several signs I didn’t recognize in that. 

“He's from the planet Tivoli.” The Doctor explains. 

“See?” Bennett, I think his name was, states. “I told you he was an alien. Didn't I say that?”

“Weird thing is, they're not violent.” The Doctor continues, ignoring Bennett. “They're too cowardly. They wouldn't say boo to a goose. They're more likely to give the goose their car keys and bank details.” He looks around at the group of people. “When did they first appear?”

“Oh, did you see that spaceship in the hangar?” O’Donnell asks. “Yeah, we found that on the lake bed and we'd just got it on board and one of the engines started up and then Moran got-“ She pauses, looking down. “Moran was killed.”

“Then they appeared and pretty much straight away started trying to kill us.” Tim says, translating as Cass signs. “So we grabbed what we could and we were looking for somewhere to hide, and that's when we realized the ghosts couldn't come in here.”

“What is this place?” Clara asks. 

Gesturing at the space, the Doctor falls into what I like to call his lecturing voice. “It's a Faraday cage. Completely impenetrable to radio waves, and apparently, whatever those things are out there.” Turning back to the group at large he makes eye contact with everyone. “So, who's in charge now? I need to know who to ignore.”

Cass signs ‘me’ and Tim translates. “That would be me.” There is a pause before he shakes his head. “Her.”

Pritchard takes a step forward, handing the Doctor a business card. “Actually, that would be me. I represent Vector Petroleum. We've obtained the mining rights to the oil.”

Ughh. Please tell me these people are stuck here because help hasn’t arrived yet, and not because of oil rights. 

“The oil? Where are we?” The Doctor asks, deliberately tossing the business card to the side. 

Bennett responds while Pritchard bends down to pick his card back up. “This used to be a military training site. There was a dam overlooking it, but the dam burst and the valley was submerged.”

“Then twenty years ago, we discovered a massive oil reservoir underneath it.” Pritchard continues. 

The lights above us flicker, then brighten. “Good morning.” A computerized voice calls out. “Entering day mode.”

“Okay, it's morning. We can go outside now.” O’Donnell states, opening the door. 

“Thank God for that.” Tim mutters. 

“At last, we can get out of here.” Pritchard says, stretching. 

Clara looks around, confused. “Morning?”

Bennett takes a take from a hook on the side of the Faraday cage. “Yeah, we're too far below the surface for daylight, so we have to demarcate artificial days and nights.”

“I'd like to have a further look at that spaceship.” The Doctor speaks up, studying the corridor outside. “But what about those things that aren't ghosts?”

O’Donnell smiles at him. “Oh, it's all right. They only come out at night.”

“Weird how that is not comforting.” Clara leans over towards us, whispering. 

While the others leave, Cass helpfully keeps the door open for us to go through. I smile at her in thanks, even as my mind whirls. The Doctor brushes his shoulder against mine. Exchanging a complicated look with him, I turn to frown at the bulkheads as we walk past them. 

“If whatever they are-“ The Doctor starts to say as we walk into the hangar, but he gets interrupted. 

“They're ghosts.” Pritchard states. 

“They're not ghosts.” The Doctor gives him an impatient look. “Have been trying to kill you, why haven't you abandoned the base?”

Pritchard nods decisively. “That was my call. We've got about a trillion dollars worth of mining equipment here. We're not just going to abandon it.” I slow my pace, seeing the Doctor do the same at my side. Pritchard looks back at us in confusion, which quickly turns to self-righteousness. “What? If it all goes pear-shaped, it's not them that lose a bonus.”

“Yes.” I look at him in contempt. “Because a bonus is worth far more to you than the lives of everybody on this base, obviously.” 

The Doctor puts his hand up to stop me. “It's okay. I understand. You're an idiot.” He tells Pritchard, patting him on the shoulder. Taking a few steps towards the ship, he pauses and turns back around quickly. “Come to mention it, why is there a Faraday cage on the base?”

“It's the mining equipment.” Bennett tells him. “It runs on nuclear fission. The Faraday cage has been lined with lead to act as a shelter in the event of a radiation leak.”

“So, we are fighting an unknown homicidal force that has taken the form of your commanding officer and a cowardly alien, underwater, in a nuclear reactor.” The Doctor reiterates, exchanging a look with me. “Anything else I should know? Someone got a peanut allergy, or something?” 

He doesn’t even wait for a response, turning on his heels and going up into the spaceship once more. “It all started with this ship. This is where the answer will be.” Frowning at something on the floor, he bends over and opens up a hatch. There is something clearly missing from it. 

The Doctor stands back up and frowns at the crew. “What's happened to the stuff you've removed? This is for long-haul flights. There should be a suspended-animation chamber for the pilot right here. Plus, one of the power cells is missing.”

“Power cells?” Pritchard asks, running up the steps into the ship. Bennett and O’Donnell follow. 

“Yeah. You can see the casing is empty.” The Doctor explains. 

“It's not safe out here!” Comes the sound of Tim’s raised voice. A glance in their direction shows Cass and Tim having a heated discussion. 

“What’s the matter.” I ask, taking a few steps down the steps in their direction. 

“She won't let me look inside the spaceship.” Tim snaps, clearly frustrated. “She says it's not safe. I'm saying it's not safe out here.”

“I imagine they're pretty valuable.” Pritchard murmurs from behind me. 

I whirl around, glaring at him, he’s very quickly wearing against my patience. “No. Don’t do that.” 

Pritchard looks at me, taken aback. “I meant powerful. The power cells I mean.” 

“Well, they can zap a vessel from one side of the galaxy to the other, so, you know, take a wild stab in the dark.” The Doctor states, giving Pritchard the same kind of look you’d give someone who dribbled on themselves. 

Pritchard looks down at the one power cell still in the ship. If this was a cartoon, you’d be able to see the visible dollar signs in his eyes. “And the missing one must still be out there.”

“What did I just say?” I increase the power of my glare. “Don’t be stupid. Money is not worth your life.” 

“You have no idea what I’m going to do.” Pritchard glares back at me. 

“Sorry.” The Doctor murmurs, looking confused. “Why is this man still talking?” 

“We haven't removed anything. There hasn't been time.” O’Donnell cuts in. 

I watch Pritchard leave, a sinking feeling in my chest, but the Doctor distracts me by taking a hold of my arm and pulling me down the steps with him. “So what have we got? Moran dies, and then those things appear. They can walk through walls. They only come out at night and they're sort of see-through.”

“Doctor, wait, you're not saying –“ Clara cuts herself off. 

The Doctor grins, spinning towards O’Donnell. “Where’s the command center?”

“Er.” O’Donnell looks confused. “What?”

“The main control room?” I offer.

Her face clears of confusion and she jerks her head towards a door opposite the way we came in. “This way.”

The room she leads us to has all the typical things you would expect for a control room to have. Computers, control panels, even a nice illuminated map of the base. 

The Doctor waits until everyone has settled before his enthusiasm boils over. “They're ghosts! Yeah, ghosts.”

Clara narrows her eyes at him. “You said there was no such thing. You actually pooh-poohed the ghost theory.”

“Yes, well, well, there was no such thing as, as socks or smartphones and badgers until there suddenly were.” The Doctor snarks, shrugging. “Besides, what else could they be? They're not holograms, they're not Flesh Avatars, they're not Autons, they're not digital copies bouncing around the Nethersphere. No, these people are literally, actually, dead.” He pauses, almost giddy with excitement. “Wow. This is, it's amazing! I've never actually met a proper ghost.”

I step on his foot, while simultaneously elbowing him as hard as I can in the chest. 

He oophs, sending me a hurt look. “What was that for?” 

“There are people who are dead right now, one of their crew mates in fact. And you’re brimming with enthusiasm at the thought.” I hiss, actually, truly angry in a way I haven’t been with him since the time he left me behind at Amy’s. “I don’t care that you are excited about this, that’s your prerogative, but show these people some respect. It’s their friend that died.” I pause, before steam rolling through. “How would you feel if I was dead and someone else lit up at the thought like you just did?”

The Doctor’s face, which was already pale at my lecture turns furious, eyes glinting in anger. “It would be an incredibly foolish thing to do.” 

I narrow my eyes at him, nodding to the rest of the crew. “Then I think you have something to say to these people now.” 

He swallows, nodding, before turning to the crew. “I, uh, I get carried away sometimes. Sorry about that.”

No one says anything in response. 

“But don't you see what this means?” The Doctor continues, apology forgotten in the face of his burning curiosity. “Death! It was the one thing that unified every single living creature in the universe, and now it's gone.”

The crew just looks at him, and for that matter, so do I. This is an older Doctor, I know that much. But he used to feel sad over the death of people. I’d seen his reaction, just as severe as mine in some instances. If this was what time did to him, what was it going to do to me? Get excited over the fact that someone had died just because it led to something happening that I had never seen before?

No. I refuse to believe that I would let go of that. 

“Oh c’mon!” The Doctor exclaims. “How can you just sit there? Don't you want to go out there right now, wrestle them to the ground and ask them questions until your throat falls out? What's death like? Does it hurt? Do you still get hungry? Do you miss being alive? Why can you only handle metal objects?” He pauses, a look of realization coming to his face. “Oh, I didn't know I'd noticed that. Okay, so they'll try to kill you, blah, blah, blah. What does that matter? You come back. A bit murder-y, sure, but even so!” 

Turning away from the crew sharply, he takes a deep breath before muttering to himself. “Calm, Doctor, calm. You were like this when you met Shirley Bassey.” There’s a beat of silence, and the next time he speaks his voice is calm, serious. “Okay. Question one. What is a ghost? Question two. What do they want?”

The lights dim before anyone gets a chance to respond. Flickering, then turning on in the same way they were when we first got here. 

“Whoa. Whoa, what's happening?” O’Donnell asks, getting up from her seat and looking around. 

“Good evening. Entering night mode.” The Computer chimes over the intercom. 

Brilliant. 

“That's not right.” O’Donnell continues, frantically pressing buttons on the console in front of her. “We're switching back into night mode again. This can't happen! No, no, no!”

A bell chimes in the distance. A very familiar bell. 

“Er.” Bennett looks around. “What's doing that?”

“Mabel?” Clara asks. 

“It’s the Tardis.” I tell her, already spinning on my heels and running in the direction the noise is coming from. The Doctor is already at the end of the hallway, he hadn’t even said anything before he took off. 

It doesn’t take us long to get to the Tardis, and I get the door open as fast as I can. It bumps into the Doctor’s back, he seems to have stopped just inside. One step past the door tells me why. The Tardis has lit up in a deep red color, her normal blue missing. 

“What’s going on?” I ask. 

“It must be the ghosts.” The Doctor hypothesizes, walking further into the room and rounding the console. “That's why she was upset when we got here.”

“Why? I don't understand.” Clara looks at him, confused. 

“It's just what I was saying. You live and you die. That's it. The ghosts are aberrations. A splinter of time in the skin. They're unnatural. She wants to get away from them.” He explains, running his hands over the controls. 

Clara rounds the console to look at him properly. “So, what do we do?”

The Doctor pulls a lever. The cloister bell stops ringing and the Tardis’s engines power down. “Put the handbrake on.” He states, feeling smug. 

Nodding, Clara takes her jacket off and heads towards the door. 

“What’re you doing?” I ask her, confused. 

“Going out there, where the action is.” She says, smiling in a confused manor. 

Coming around the console, the Doctor feels deeply uncomfortable. “Look, you, er-“

Clara turns to him. “What?”

“Oh, this is my own fault.” He mutters to himself, before looking up and raising his voice so Clara can hear him. “I like adventures as much as the next man. If the next man is a man who likes adventures. Even so, don't, don't go native.”

“What do you mean?” She laughs. “I'm not.”

“Look, there's a whole dimension in here, but there's only room for one me.” The Doctor continues, still feeling uncomfortable. 

Clara narrows her eyes at him. “Wait a second. You just raved about ghosts like a kid who had too much sherbet.”

“Do you know what you need?” The Doctor asks rhetorically. “You need a hobby.”

“I really don't.” She states, starting to become annoyed. 

“Or even better, another relationship. Come on, you lot, you're bananas about relationships. You're always writing songs about them, or going to war, or getting tattooed-“ The Doctor goes off, before getting interrupted again. 

“Doctor.” Clara says decisively. “I'm fine.”

“Back me up here.” The Doctor says, looking over at me. 

Even though I’m still annoyed with him, this is too important to stay quiet about. “He’s right. I’ve only known you for a couple of hours, but I can already tell you’re reckless with adventures.” I pause, hesitating. “Just try and be careful, okay? If something happens to us, we have a cheat for it. You don’t.” 

“I know.” Clara murmurs, looking down. 

“I just felt that I, I, I had to say something.” He tells her. 

“I know.’ She reiterates, looking up at him. “And I appreciated it.”

The Doctor looks back, intense. “Because we’ve got a duty of care.” 

“Which you both take very seriously, I know.” Clara smiles, longsuffering now. 

“Can I stop now?” He asks her, uncomfortable expression front and center on his face. 

“Please.” Clara nods. “Please do.”

She turns to leave and I watch her go. The Doctor starts to follow, but I block the doorway. 

“We need to talk.” I tell him. 

“Mabel, we don’t really have the time right now.” He responds, distracted, as he tries to brush past me. 

I firm my stance, raising my chin. “Is this what I become in the future as well?” I ask him, watching him pause at the doorway. “Someone who can brush off death as if it’s nothing? Who can look at a group of people and get excited over the fact that one of their crew mates has been killed because he came back as a ghost?”

The Doctor sighs, long suffering patience on his face. “Mabel, you know I can’t tell you anything about your future.”

“Which isn’t a no.” I can feel my stomach sink. God, I do become like this.

“No.” He frowns at me, sudden and sharp. “I need you to not be emotional right now.” 

That’s quite enough of that. I close down my side of the connection, the sudden shift jarring. The Doctor winces, but I can’t bring myself to feel bad about it. “I can’t exactly just shut my emotions down like you apparently can, but I can make it so you don’t have to feel them.” 

“And here I thought you said you weren’t going to run away anymore.” The Doctor murmurs, eyes intent on mine. 

I laugh, the noise anything but happy. “Yeah, me too.” Walking up the ramp, I attempt to get by him to go outside, but he stops me with a hand on my arm. “What?”

He studies me, eyes flickering over my expression. I can feel him on the corners of my mind, asking for entrance but I tighten my barriers. “You’re really upset about this.” 

“Doctor. You basically just laughed in their faces about their friend being dead.” I tell him, seeing the look of confusion on his face. “You don’t even understand why I’m angry, do you?”

“You’re angry over me not being upset?” He tries, still looking lost. 

I can myself soften, emotions calming to something more like disappointment rather than anger. “No, that’s not why I’m upset.” Placing a hand on his cheek, which he leans into, I study him. 

He’s older this go, with grey hair, but also lighter in a way. The oppressive guilt that had followed him around with his leather jacket body, into his pretty boy face, and even into his bow tie self, has dissipated. Now here he is, not even sure why I’m upset, but trying so hard to understand. 

“Doctor, remember what I said earlier. About the hypothetical situation in where I may be dead and someone deliberately brings that up in front of you, delighted?” His face turns hard. “How does thinking about that make you feel?” 

“Angry.” The Doctor murmurs. 

I nod, accepting that. “And why is that?”

“It would be cruel. To deliberately bring that up in front of me and then laugh.” A look of realization crosses his face. “Oh.”

“Exactly.” Taking a step closer to him, I make sure that he sees how serious my face is. “Now I know you can’t always be nice and I’m not asking you to. But you can be kind, instead of being cruel.” 

The Doctor nods, looking like he really does understand. “Never cruel or cowardly.” 

“That works too.” I hum, pleased that he seems to understand. 

“No.” He laughs, eyes crinkling at the corners. “When I took my name, I made a promise to myself.” 

Tilting my head, I watch the change in his expression. “What was the promise?”

“Never cruel and never cowardly. Never give up, never give in.” The Doctor tells me, voice taking on a strange cadence. 

I shiver, feeling the promise in the air. “And if you are, then always amends.” 

His eyes furrow, the power in the moment lost. “What?” 

“Nobody’s perfect Doctor.” Reaching up, I adjust the collar of his hoodie. “Never cruel and never cowardly. Never give up, never give in. And if you are, then always make amends.” 

The Doctor turns and crowds me against the doorway, pressing his forehead against mine. “I need you to let me in Mabel.”

I can feel the Doctor hovering outside my barriers, pressing against them, asking for entrance. Lowering them, I’m suffused with his affection, genuine awe, and..love.

“You always know what to say, it’s ridiculous.” He murmurs, fond. “You told me those same words the first time I told you my promise, and it’s always stayed with me.” Pausing, his mouth tilts up into a wry smile. “I don’t always do a good job of sticking to that, but you always remind me just when I need to be reminded.” 

“Doctor.” I murmur, overwhelmed by his words and by the breadth of his feelings for me. It’s as if we are right on the edge of something. I feel as if all I need to do is reach out and everything will be different. 

He smiles, a victorious thing, all teeth and manic energy. “I’m a selfish old man, always have been. I didn’t start out with the intention of helping people, I just wanted to see the universe. And then there was you.” The Doctor laughs. “Oh how I hated you at first.” 

I raise an eyebrow. “Hated me?”

“Oh yes.” He murmurs. “Here was this bright, accomplished woman who stole my limelight every time she entered the room. But I was young then, and I didn’t know any better. And you were very patient with me. You were also much better at spoilers than I was.” 

The Doctor pauses, eyes distant. “You always had one lecture or another when I treated someone callously. Relating it to something that would matter to me, to make me see why it wasn’t a good idea to act that way.” He shakes his head, eyes focusing back on me. “It was infuriating. But, I think it’s also why I fell for you as fast as I did. You didn’t care about rules, all you cared about was that I be kind.” 

As he talks, I can feel the strength of what he’s saying. It would take a far stronger person than I am to not respond to that kind of devotion in any way. And so, I reach out for him. 

Something twists, spiraling together tighter than it had been before. I gasp, eyes going unfocussed. The Doctor supports me, triumphant and fond and so very bright in the section of my mind dedicated to him. 

“Doctor.” I manage to say through shaky lips. 

“It’ll pass, give it a minute.” He murmurs, pressing a kiss to the side of my head. 

Tightening my fingers in their grip on his hoodie, I pull back to look at him. “What was that?”

The Doctor is still smiling, his teeth bared for the world to see. “You took the first step, you reached out.” 

“I’ve reached out to you mentally before, and nothing like that has happened.” I reply, narrowing my eyes at him. 

“Not like this.” He feels so very pleased. “When I first connected our minds, you barely knew me. Had only been traveling with me for a couple of months. So I reached out, and I forged the connection, but I didn’t make you reach back. I wanted you to make that decision on your own.” 

“You are an impossible man.” I bite out, annoyed and yes okay, fond. 

"I know." He says, eyes crinkling once again. 

I narrow my eyes at him even further. "I didn't just marry you without realizing it did I?" 

The Doctor hesitates, shaking his hand in a see-saw motion. "Not really, more like a proposal." 

"Are you telling me you proposed to me all those years ago?" I ask him is disbelief. 

"You basically forced me to do it!" He argues immediately. 

There is literally nothing I can say to him. I laugh, loud and free. The pressure lets up and I feel as though I can breathe properly again. The bright spot that represents him is still in the back on my mind, humming with vitality. 

"Oi!" The Doctor blusters. "Why are you laughing?" 

"Because you are a ridiculous man, who just manipulated that whole situation to get me to respond to a proposal that you started over a decade ago from my perspective." I tell him, still brimming with mirth. There are tears at the corner of my eyes from laughing. 

He flushes, looking away. "I didn't manipulate the whole thing, only the end. The possibility was there, and I nudged it, that's all." 

I shake my head. "And you know what? I can't even be mad at you for it." 

"And why is that?" The Doctor asks, looking back at me with a smile turning the corners of his lips up. It's as if he knows what I'm about to say. 

Knowing how long he's known me, it's quite possible this exact scenario has happened before. "Because I love you, you idiotic sap." 

He kisses me, urgent and entirely welcome. 

I laugh, breaking the kiss because I can't keep the smile off my face. It doesn't matter anyways, he just kisses the side of my head in response. 

"That's the first time you've said those words to me from your perspective." He murmurs, voice flush with awe. Then he devolves into Gallifreyan, the words reverent and full of promise. 

"I still haven't learned Gallifreyan sweetheart." I tell him, pulling on his hoodie. 

"That's fine, all that matters is the fact I know what I've just said." The Doctor replies. His eyes are bright, happy. 

Clara pops her head back into the room. "Are you two done arguing?" She takes in the looks on our faces, nose crinkling in response. "Ugh, you two have those sappy looks on your faces again. We don't have time for this right now, remember the ghosts!" 

The Doctor grumbles, closing the door on her to block out her voice. Then he leans down and kisses me one more time. 

I let him, before pulling back and giving him a look. "Ghosts now, kissing later." 

He sighs, longsuffering. "Yes dear." 

Opening the door, I'm greeted by Clara's displeased face. "You closed the door on me." 

"He closed the door on you." I tell her, throwing the Doctor under the bus. 

He sends me a betrayed look as Clara turns her glare on him. 

"What if there had been ghosts out here, and you shutting the door on me would have led to my death?" Clara asks him. "How would you have felt then?" 

"There weren’t any ghosts out here." The Doctor grumbles. "If there was, you would have been more panicked." 

Clara narrows her eyes. "But there might have been." 

"Sorry Clara." I lower my eyes as her gaze swings towards me. "It was important." 

"You were probably kissing." She grumbles, but her temper seems to soften just as I’d intended. 

The Doctor's amusement reaches me, so I reach over and pinch him in the side. 

Clara looks between the two of us suspiciously as he yelps, before shaking her head and visibly deciding to let it go. "I've been talking with O'Donnell, based on previous experience the ghosts don't appear right away. I'm going to help Bennett grab supplies from the galley, want to help?" 

"I need Mabel with me." The Doctor shakes his head. "We’re going to go back to command center." 

She nods, letting that go and taking off down the hallway. 

Watching her go, I smile over at the Doctor. "I really do like her." 

"Yes, I do as well." He admits, gesturing for me to go first. 

It doesn’t take long for us to reach center command, though the only person still there is O’Donnell. 

“Pritchard, you are unaccounted for.” O’Donnell is speaking into an intercom system. “Contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage immediately. Pritchard, contact the bridge or get to the Faraday cage!”

“Pritchard is missing?” I purse my lips in disapproval. 

“He hasn’t checked in.” O’Donnell tells us, flitting from console to console. 

‘O'Donnell, it's okay.’ Comes Bennett’s voice from over the speaker. ‘Pritchard's in here!’

O’Donnell sighs, pressing the button so she can speak. “Pritchard, you moron. Grab your stuff, we're locking down early. In case I can't get this back into day mode.”

There is a pause, then Bennett’s frantic voice can be heard once again over the speaker. ‘Man overboard. Man overboard! We need a rescue team in the water now!’

‘Bennett, wait!’ Clara cautions him. ‘It's Pritchard.’

Well, that’s all I need to hear. Sprinting from the room, I take the shortest route to the mess hall that I can remember, the Doctor hot on my heels. At some point Tim and Cass join us. 

The door whooshes open, and the four of us slide in. 

“He's a ghost. He's another ghost.” Clara states. 

Pritchard’s ghost picks up a chair by it’s metal legs and advances on us. But before he can swing it, the light flicker then brightens. The ghost dissolves instantly, chair falling to the floor. 

“Good morning.” The computer chimes. “Entering day mode.” 

I blow out a large breath in relief, mentally thanking O’Donnell. Bennett makes a noise, looking out the window at Pritchard’s body. 

At that, I work at clearing the room. Bustling people away from the sight of Pritchard’s body and back in the direction of command center. 

“How did this even happen?” Bennett demands, running a hand over his mouth. 

O’Donnell purses her lips, typing frantically on the keyboard to bring up the footage. 

It shows Pritchard leaving the base shortly after our talk. It shows him coming back right after the night mode had been prematurely triggered. And most distressingly, it shows the ghost of Moran pressing the button that flooded the chamber Pritchard had been in. Which killed him.

“They're working out how to use the base against us.” The Doctor murmurs. “Altering the time settings so they can go about uninhibited, opening the airlocks. They're learning.”

“And now there's three of them.” Clara states, looking over at the Doctor. 

Bennett waves a hand to get Cass’s attention. “Cass, what do we do?” 

Cass bites her lip. “We abandon the base.” Tim translates. “Topside can send down a whole team of marines or ghost-busters or whatever.”

The Doctor steps forward. “Wait, wait.”

“I can't force you to leave.” Cass signs violently, getting into his face, while Time translates. “So you can stay and do the whole cabin in the woods thing and get killed or drowned, if you want. But my first priority is to protect my crew.”

Bowing his head, the Doctor defers to her judgement. I nudge his shoulder with mine, pleased that he took my lecture to heart earlier. 

Clara takes a step closer, lowering her voice. “But we're coming back, aren't we?” 

The Doctor glances up at the crew, then back down at her. “Yes, we’re coming back.”

Cass instructs O’Donnell to contact topside. 

O’Donnell grabs something that grabs that looks like a field telephone. “Topside, Topside, this is Lance Corporal Alice O'Donnell from Drum Control. Over.”

The radio scratches, then a voice responds. ‘Drum Control, this is Topside. We have received your message. Submarine on its way. Over.’

A ripple of confusion goes over the group. “Repeat, Topside. Over.”

‘We've received your request for a rescue sub.’ Topside reiterates. ‘It's two minutes away. Over.’

O’Donnell shakes her head. “Topside, who did you speak to and when was this request made? Over.”

‘Drum Control, it was in Morse code and arrived maybe half an hour ago. Said it was urgent, comms were down, two crew members critically ill, full paramedic team requested. Over.’ Topside explains, starting to sound confused as well.

The Doctor reaches over and grabs the phone from O’Donnell. “Topside, this is the Doctor, UNIT security visa seven one zero Apple zero zero. You may be familiar with my work. Call back the sub.”

‘Doctor, why would-‘ Topside begins to ask, but the Doctor cuts him off. 

“Call it back! We have a hazardous and undefined contagion on board. This base is now under quarantine.” He says into the phone, hanging up before Topside has a chance to ask any more questions.

“What did you do that for?” Bennett asks, taken aback. 

“Well, none of us sent the message, did we?” The Doctor states, raising his eyebrows. “So that means that the ghosts sent it, which means they want that crew down here.”

“Why would they do that?” Tim shakes his head. 

“Well, I don't know, but I'm pretty certain it's not so they can all form a boy band. Okay. We solve this on our own. The ghosts can only come out at night so they change the base's time settings.” The Doctor pauses, mind whirling. “Why? What's different at night?”

“It's mainly atmospheric.” O’Donnell states. “The lights are dim, the noise from the engines is muffled.”

The Doctor shakes his head. “No, something else.”

Cass signs, and Tim translates. “The diagnostic sweep. When the systems are checked, that stops at night to save power.”

“What systems specifically?” The Doctor narrows his eyes at Cass. 

“Life support, the locks.” O’Donnell chimes in. “They're electromagnetic. They have to be secured in case of flooding, so throughout the day, they're checked, one by one, every few seconds.”

Spinning to me, the Doctor runs a hand through his hair making it stand up more it had been before. “The answer is in there somewhere, I can smell it.”

Clara looks impatient. “Doctor, what do we do?”

The Doctor smiles at me, manic energy filling him, before turning to O’Donnell. “O'Donnell. Excellent work, returning the base to day mode.”

“Shut up. It was nothing.” She automatically responds, then blushes and looks away. “You really think so?”

His smile gains more teeth somehow. “Now put it back into night mode.”

O’Donnell’s blush fades instantly. “What!”

“We know nothing. We don't know what they want. That's what's getting us killed. Well, I won't run. Not anymore.” The Doctor states. “So, O'Donnell, kindly put the base back into night mode. We want to know what these ghosts are after? We ask them. We're going to do the impossible. We're going to capture a ghost.”

xxxx

What follows is a scene strangely reminiscent of an old scooby do episode. Each person takes a turn directing the ghost closer to the Faraday cage while the Doctor and O’Donnell directs us. The only hiccup is when Tim gets cornered, but for some reason they don’t hurt him. 

In the end, a simple hologram projection of Clara is the final nail, and we manage to trap the ghosts in the Faraday cage. 

Then the Doctor and I are heading down the hall towards the ghosts. He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a pair of sunglasses which he proceeds to put on his face. 

“Why are you putting sunglasses on while it’s night mode?” I ask in confusion. 

He smirks, pushing a button on the side. An electronic noise rings out. “Sonic sunglasses.” 

I scoff. “No way.” 

“Yes, way.” The Doctor replies, tapping me on the nose. “I’ve connected them to the base’s wifi. O’Donnell, can you see what I see?” 

‘Yeah, but all this moving about is giving me motion sickness.’ O’Donnell teases, voice coming from somewhere on the glasses themselves. 

He rolls his eyes, grumbling. And then we are at our destination, in front of the ghosts. “We need to talk. Sorry, chaps. Just a hologram. You play a little bit too rough.”

The ghosts don’t respond, they just continue their constant mouthing. 

“Cass, are you seeing this?” The Doctor asks. 

‘She says she can't see them properly.’ Tim responds. ‘The glass is too thick and they're too far away.’

He looks at me, and though I purse my lips in disapproval, I nod back. “Open the door.”

‘What?’ O’Donnell exclaims.

‘Doctor, you can't go in there.’ Clara states, panic in her voice. ‘They will kill you!’

“They don't have any weapons or access to any of the controls.” The Doctor replies. “They can't hurt me, so open the door.”

The door clicks, indicating that it’s unlocked. When I try to go inside with the Doctor, he shakes his head at me. “I’m the only one that needs to go in.” He murmurs. 

“Doctor.” I scold him, voice low.

“Please.” The Doctor asks, grasping my hand in his. 

His genuine desire for me to stay out here comes through the connection clearly, in the face of that how can I say no? I open the door for him, closing it immediately after he’s in the room. Activating the speaker system on the computer nest to the door so I can hear what’s going on inside, I settle in to watch what’s happening.

One of the ghosts, Moran, reaches a hand out that goes through the Doctor’s body. He shivers. “Cold, isn't it? Take away your weapons and you're not so scary, are you?” Leaning in, he presses a button on the side of his glasses. “Is that better, Cass?”

‘She says they're saying the same thing, the same phrase, over and over.’ Tim responds, his words coming out slowly as Cass tries to figure out what the ghosts are saying. ‘They're saying the dark. The score. No, the sword. The for sale? No, the forsaken. The temple.’

The Doctor clearly wasn’t expecting that. “What?”

There is a pause, before Tim’s voice comes back. This time it’s more confident. ‘Yes, she's sure. The dark, the sword, the forsaken, the temple. Just that. Over and over.’

“Dark, sword, forsaken, temple. What does that mean? What are you telling me, big man?” A jolt of realization arcs across our connection. Looks like the Doctor has an idea. “Bennett! I need maps. I think I just worked out what our friend here is telling us.”

I open the door for him, making sure it’s closed and locked afterwards, before turning and following him down the hallway. 

The Doctor leads us back to command center, where Bennett has indeed gathered several maps. He fiddles with them for several minutes, arranging them on the central table. 

Placing his hands down, the Doctor smiles up at us. “They're coordinates.”

Bennett shakes his head. “How can they be coordinates?”

The Doctor falls into his lecturing voice. “The dark? Space. So, whoever's following the coordinates knows they're going to another planet. The sword?” He pulls an apple out of somewhere and hands it to Bennett, positioning his hand just so. Then, he gives what looks like a dog toy ball to O’Donnell and positions her hand slight lower than Bennett’s. Clara gets a tennis ball, and once again she gets positioned lower then the others. The end result is a somewhat straight line the slopes down. 

“Orion's sword. The sword, the three stars, although one isn't actually a star but the Orion Nebula, hanging down from Orion's belt. But if viewed from back here, the Earth becomes the fourth bit of the sword. So, narrowed it down to a planet now. Getting closer.” The Doctor explains, gathering all of the items back from everyone and placing them on the table next to the maps. “The forsaken. The forsaken or abandoned or empty town. See, it's a location, beaming out to someone or something across the universe, over and over. And every time they kill one of us-“

“It strengthens the signal.” Clara states, interrupting the Doctor. “Another ghost, another transmitter.”

O’Donnell frowns. “Which is why they sent for that rescue sub.”

The Doctor nods. “Get more people down here, kill them, make even more ghosts to beam out the coordinates.”

“But why are they beaming out the coordinates?” Tim asks, translating for Cass. “Is it a distress call?”

“It could be.” The Doctor allows. “Or a warning. Might even be a call to arms. It could mean, come here, they're vulnerable, help yourself.” I get a burst of anger from him. “Wait a minute, though. Wait a minuet. Do you know what this means? It means that they're not a natural phenomenon. It means that someone is deliberately getting people killed, hijacking their souls and turning them into transmitters.” 

“But what do the coordinates lead to, though?” O’Donnell asks, looking at the Doctor. “To us? To the ghosts? What?”

“Ah! What the coordinates are for. That is part of the answer to the other question you're all thinking.” The crew just give him blank looks. “Really? Come on. None of you? Surely just being around me makes you cleverer by osmosis? What is the other question?” 

Cass starts signing, the Doctor turns in her direction, turning his attention to her. “The temple.” Tim translates. “The fourth part of the directions. What's the temple?”

“Finally.” The Doctor mutters. “It's like pulling teeth.” He turns back to an aerial overview map, “This is the flooded military town. Shops, houses, town square, and this.”

I frown down at the map. “Is that a church?”

The Doctor nods. “Whatever the coordinates are for, it's in that church. Find that and you're a hop, skip and a jump to stopping them.”

“Wait, you're not suggesting that?” Bennett hesitates, frowning at the Doctor. “But we're safe now. The ghosts are in the cage. We can get out of here.”

“No one has to stay. In fact, I would prefer it if you went.” The Doctor tells him, sincere. “You'll all get in the way and ask ridiculous questions. But, you know.” He gestures to Cass, O’Donnell and Tim. “You have chosen to protect and serve.” Then he gestures to Bennett. “You have given yourself to science and the pursuit of knowledge. None of you have chosen anonymous or selfish lives. Go, and a part of you will always wonder, what would have happened if I'd stayed? How could I have helped? What would I have learned?” The Doctor shrugs. “I want you to go. But you should know what it is that you're leaving.”

Cass heaves a sign, looking reluctant even as she signs that she’s going to stay. 

“Cass says we should go.” Tim translates. “But everything that happens here is her responsibility now, so she's going to stay.” He looks uncomfortable, shifting. “So I, er, guess I should too.”

“Well, count me in.” O’Donnell states with a smirk, stepping back to brush shoulders with Cass. “Who wants to live forever, anyway?”

Bennett closes his eyes briefly, looking like a man at the end of their limit for bullshit. “Sorry, er, have you gone insane? We can go home.” O’Donnell shrugs, grinning at him. “They're ghosts, though. How can they be ghosts?” No one says anything. “Well, at least if I die, you know I really will come back and haunt you all.”

How very British indeed. I bite back a smile, pressing my face against the Doctor’s shoulder briefly. 

He nudges me back, smile on his own face. 

“Well.” Clara breaks the silence. “After what happened to Pritchard, I’m not very keen on throwing a diving suit on and leaving the base to look for anything.” 

“We have something for that.” Bennet states, looking somewhat excited for the first time of the night. 

O’Donnell rolls her eyes. “You’re just excited because you get to use your toy.” 

“It’s not a toy.” Bennett replies, annoyed. He’s digging through the cupboards for something, pulling out a box that has what looks to be a VR headset inside. 

The Doctor makes a noise of understanding. “Remote controlled drone.” 

“Basically.” Bennet states, suiting up. “Left hand for power, right hand for steering. The googles let me see what the drone sees.” 

“And I can tap into that and put it on the screen for us.” O’Donnell continues, pressing a couple of buttons on the console in front of her. 

The drone moves surprisingly fast, and it seems like almost no time as passed when Bennett announces he’s approaching the town square. “Which way is the church?”

O’Donnell consults the map once more. “North-north-west, one hundred and fifty yards.” Bennett adjusts the trajectory. “That's it. Starboard two degrees.”

“What are we looking for, exactly?” Clara asks. 

“Something that has the power to raise the dead and turn them into transmitters.” The Doctor answers. “I expect we'll know it when we see it.”

“Yes, because that’s not vague at all.” I deadpan, giving him an unimpressed look. 

“Wait, I've found the church.” Bennett states, interrupting our conversation. 

“That's it, keep going.” The Doctor murmurs. There is something to the right that sticks out. It’s large and white, looks almost like a casket. “Wait. What's that? Move closer.”

“It’s a casket?” I frown at the poor quality image. 

The Doctor looks at Bennett, even though Bennett can’t see him. “Can we bring this in?” 

Bennett’s lips twitch into a smile. “That’s easy.” 

Somehow, he gets the casket to stick to the bottom of the drone, then carefully maneuvers it back to the base. 

The six of us hurry to the hanger, where the drone has placed the casket. The sight of it causes a strange shiver to crawl up my spine.

The Doctor is the first to approach it, hand touching the top. “It's the suspended-animation chamber from the spaceship.”

“So.” Clara looks at the box. “The pilot could be in there.” 

“There's something inside there. But it's deadlock sealed. I can't open it.” The Doctor states, frowning at the suspended-animation chamber. “It should be the pilot, it should be. So why do I think it isn't? More questions. Everything I solve, just more questions. I have to go back to the beginning. We arrive, we see the ghosts. They don't kill us. They lead us here, they show us the spaceship. Then they try to kill us.”

The Doctor whirls around and runs into the ship that’s at our backs. “Not translated by the Tardis. Why?” He uses his sunglasses to scan the words, then comes back down the steps towards us. 

“Tim, translate for me.” The Doctor demands, before turning to Cass. “Whenever I step outside, you are the second smartest person in the room. So, tell me, what's weird about this? I know that it's all bonkers but, you know, when you think about it, one thing keeps snagging in your mind. What is it?”

Cass looks taken aback, responding slowly. “The markings on the inside of the spaceship.” Tim translates. 

The Doctor nods, snapping his fingers. “The markings on the inside of the spaceship. Yes! Why?”

Tim translates once more. “I don't think they're just words.” 

“They're not.” The Doctor reveals, smile sharp enough to cut. “They're magnets.”

“Magnets?” Bennett frowns at the Doctor. “How?”

“Well, a localized and manufactured electromagnetic field, to be precise.” The Doctor explains. “The dark. The sword. The forsaken. The temple. When we heard the coordinates for the first time, did anyone expect them not to be that? No, exactly. Me neither. It's like we already knew, somehow. Like the words were already in us.”

“Wait a minute.” I cut in, finally understanding what’s going on. “It would make perfect sense. The ghosts never tried to hurt us until we came here and looked at the coordinates. And earlier, they didn’t hurt Tim. Cass never let Tim come in to see the coordinates.” 

“Exactly!” The Doctor exclaims. “Those words actually rewrite the synaptic connections in your brain. They literally change the way you are wired.”

“Okay, so, the spaceship lands here.” Clara starts piecing it together as well. “The pilot leaves the writing on the wall so whoever sees it, when they die, they become a beacon of the coordinates, while he slash she slash it snoozes in the suspended-animation chamber-“

“Waiting for his slash her slash its mates to pick the message up.” The Doctor continues, turning to face the suspended-animation chamber. “My God. Every time I think it couldn't get more extraordinary, it surprises me. It's impossible. I hate it. It's evil. It's astonishing. I want to kiss it to death.”

“Down boy.” I murmur, giving him an amused look. 

He grimaces comically at me in response. 

At that moment an alarm goes off. “Attention, all crew. Evacuate base immediately. Emergency protocols have been initiated. This safety message was brought to you by Vector Petroleum. Fuel for our futures.”

O’Donnell runs to the nearest computer on the wall. “Oh no.” She states, pressing a couple of buttons. “The ghosts tampering with the day-night settings caused a computer malfunction. Its-It’s first priority is to keep the reactor cool, so it's opening the hull doors and it's flooding the base.”

Cass goes over and signs something rapidly. 

“Cass says, close the internal flood doors. That'll contain the water in the central corridor.” Tim calls out. O’Donnell nods, typing rapidly.

“Where’s the Tardis?” The Doctor asks. 

“On the other side.” O’Donnell answers him. 

“We need to get there.” The Doctor states. “It's our only way out.”

“Okay.” O’Donnell takes a deep breath as she straightens from the computer screen. “We've got thirty seconds before the flood doors close.”

“Time to run!” I exclaim, pulling her along with me, Bennett hot on our heels. The Doctor falls back to stay with Clara, Cass and Tim. Unfortunately, they aren’t fast enough. 

The door comes down between me and the Doctor and I have about a millisecond to look through the door at his panicked face before the sound of the other door starting to close catches my attention. I lunge towards it, managing to roll into the other section just before it closes, and I’m stuck on the wrong side. 

Looking through the window, I can see the Doctor on the other side of the corridor. He reaches down to activate the intercom on his side. “Mabel, you need to take the Tardis back to when this all started. Figure out what’s going on.”

“Why can’t she just come and get us now?” Clara asks, looking irritated. 

“The ghosts, the Tardis won’t come near them.” He reminds her. 

Activating the intercom on my side, I blow out a stream of air. “I’ll be back soon, I promise.”

The Doctor nods, eyes intent even as the water floods the corridor to the point we are looking at each other though it. “I know.” 

“Wait, you're going to go back in time?” Bennett asks. He’s one of the two people on this side of the corridor with me. “How do you do that?” 

“Very carefully.” I respond, ignoring the look he shares with O’Donnell. “Have you two ever heard of the Tardis?” 

O’Donnell’s face lights up. “We are going to get to fly in the Tardis?” She clears her throat. “I mean..” 

I raise an eyebrow at her, amused despite myself. As we round the corner, I gesture at the box. “It’s called the Tardis, and it stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space.” 

“It’s just a box.” Bennett says, unamused. 

“Is it?” I ask, pulling out my key and opening the door. “Feel free to stay out here if you want, but I have a job to do so make your decision quickly.” 

Leaving the door open behind me, I rush up to the console. Nerves rise up, almost choking me. I don’t know if I can do this by myself. I’ve never driven the Tardis before, in fact, I’ve never done anything more than monitor individual sections of the console. 

The Tardis burbles, a section of her console flashing. It looks like it has some sort of organic material that’s open to the air. 

“Telepathic circuits.” I breath to myself, the words popping into my mind. 

“What’s a telepathic circuit?” O’Donnell asks, startling me. It seems both of them have chosen to follow me in. 

I smile at her, confident now that I know I can do this. “It’s what’s going to get us to the past to figure out what’s going on.” 

The Tardis shuts her doors, handbrake flipping itself off as I stick my hands into the circuits. It’s a strange, wet feeling, but I do my best to block that out as I concentrate on where we need to go. The rotor spins as we take off. 

Bennett curses, and O’Donnell whoops in laughter. And then it’s over. We land. 

“Do, do you have a bathroom on this thing?” Bennett asks, looking grey.

I send a look at the ceiling and the Tardis groans, a door materializing on the upper deck. “Through there.” 

Bennett takes off, hand over his mouth. I wince, hoping that he makes it in time. 

“I’m gonna go check on him, yeah.” O’Donnell tells me, looking up the stairs after Bennett. 

I nod. “Don’t be long, I’ll be waiting outside.” 

Once I’m outside, I finally get a good look at what the town used to look like, and it’s not a town at all. There are buildings yes, but it’s clear that nobody has lived here for a long time, if they ever had in the first place. That, and the Russian signs with cardboard cutouts of people kind of give it away. 

O’Donnell is the first one out, lips pursed in displeasure.

“How’s Bennett?” I ask her. 

“Oh, he's still throwing up.” She tells me. “One small step for man, one giant bleaurgh.”

I can’t help the way my lips tilt up at that. “Ah, I’ve seen that happen before. The vortez can make the stomach a little wibbly.” Arnold Schwarzenegger was a puker, never had I been more disappointed. 

“Somehow I doubt that Rose or Martha or Amy lost their breakfast on their first trip.” O’Donnell says, offhand, as she looks around. 

“That’s an awlful lot of information you have.” I tell her, casually calm.

O’Donnell smiles, just slightly. “I used to be in military intelligence. I was demoted for dangling a colleague out of a window.”

Taking that in, I tilt my head in her direction. “What did they do for you to have to dangle them out of the window?”

“He was a sexist pig.” She tells me, lips curling in disgust. “Didn’t like the fact that women were allowed in the military. Enjoyed seducing, or even strong arming, women who were a lower rank into bed. Then he would rat them out to the higher ups and destroy their reputation.” 

And reputation was everything when it came to the military. “I’m surprised you didn’t drop him out the window, instead of just dangling him.” 

“Yeah, well. It was a close one.” O’Donnell mutters, shaking her head. “So what year are we in?”

Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath. Expanding my senses like bow tie had taught me. The physical world falls away and I can feel the earth itself spinning through space. It’s amazing. 

Reeling it back in, pulling myself back together, I open my eyes. Not a second has passed in real time. “1980. The year is 1980.” 

O’Donnell nods. “So, pre-Harold Saxon. Pre-the Minister of War. Pre-the moon exploding and a big bat coming out.”

I cover her mouth, glaring lightly. “Spoilers.” 

“Wait.” It’s muffled through my hand, so she pulls her face back. “Are you saying that you haven’t lived any of that yet?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” I scold her. “Try and keep the spoilers to a minimum.”

The Tardis door opening distracts her from replying. Bennett walks up, stiff, and puts his glasses back on. “Sorry about that. Had a prawn sandwich. Might have been off.” 

How very British. “No problem at all.” I tell him, gesturing towards the steps. “Let’s go.”

I start to walk, but O’Donnell begins hopping on one foot. “Just one sec, I've just got something in my boot.”

“Ah, okay.” Giving her a strange look, I allow them to have their privacy. 

I may not be able to see them, but I can hear them just fine. 

“It's bigger on the inside, it's bigger on the inside, it's bigger on the inside.” O’Donnell quietly squeals, so very excited. “How can it be bigger on the inside, Bennett?” It sounds as if she takes a deep breath. “Okay, let's roll.”

That woman. I bite back a smile as the catch up to me. Maybe I could convince the Doctor to give her a trip when we figured everything out. She’d certainly appreciate it.

“Why have we gone to Russia?” Bennett asks, looking around at the carboard cutouts. 

“We haven’t.” Gesturing around at the landscape, I continue. “We’re still in Scotland. My guess is that this was used as a training site. It’s 1980, that puts us in the middle of the Cold War, explains the Soviet paraphernalia. The Tardis has brought us to when the spaceship first got here.”

Rounding the corner, the spaceship is parked right in front of the Orthodox church that we found the suspended-animation in. I glance back at my companions. “Shall we?”

Bennett looks unimpressed, but O’Donnell smiles at me so I’m going to call it a win. 

The first step that we take into the spaceship already shows differences. The suspended-animation is still in the ship for one, and there seems to be a wrapped corpse on top of the other platform. 

“Oh, is that the pilot?” O’Donnell asks, incredulous. “My God, look at size of it.”

I shake my head, clues coalescing into coherent theories. “No, I don’t think that’s the pilot.”

“What do you mean, you don’t think it’s the pilot?” She frowns at me over the mummy. 

“If they were the pilot, why would they be all wrapped up like that? Wouldn’t they be in the suspended-animation chamber? No, I think this is a transport ship for the dead.” I tilt my head to the side. “Kind of like a hearse.”

Bennett kneels down and fiddles with the power cell hatch. “The suspended animation chamber's still here, and the power cells for the engine.” 

“And there are no markings on the wall.” O’Donnell continues. 

“Not yet, at least.” I mutter. 

A noise from the direction of the church draws my attention. The alien from Tivoli is running towards us, carrying a briefcase and waving a large white handkerchief. “Greetings!”

“It's him.” O’Donnell states, as we walk down the ramp to greet him in return. “That's the ghost from the Drum.”

The alien gets right up in my face, studying me closely. “Remarkable.” He turns to Bennet, reaching out to touch his face. “Oh, and humans, too.” Backing off, he hands out some sort of business card. “Albar Prentis, Funeral Director.”

‘Albar Prentis Universal Funeral Director. May the remorse be with you.’ The card says, huh. Still making money off of death in the future I see. 

“You're from Tivoli, aren't you?” Bennett asks, looking up from his own card. 

“The most invaded planet in the galaxy!” Prentis exclaims, giggling. “Our capital city has a sign saying, if you occupied us, you'd be home by now.”

“What are you doing here?” I ask him, deciding not to comment of his statement.

“Ah, yes. Of course.” He runs up the ramp, turning serious for the first time. “This is the Fisher King. He and his armies invaded Tivoli and enslaved us for ten glorious years! Until we were liberated by the Arcateenians. But, thank the Gods, soon we'd irritated them so much, they enslaved us, too!” Prentis exclaims, giggling once more. 

“My first proper alien, and he's an idiot.” Bennet states, still looking unimpressed. 

“And now, in accordance with Arcateenian custom, I've come to bury him on a barren, savage outpost.” Prentis continues. 

O’Donnell’s eyes furrow in confusion. “You mean the town?”

I shake my head. “I’m fairly certain he means the planet.”

Prentis smiles. “Although, at the risk of starting a bidding war, you could enslave me. In the ship I have directions to my planet and a selection of items that you can oppress me with.” 

Down boy. “Look, we’ve come from the future. There’s a signal that’s going to be sent out, fairly soon I’d think. How do you do it? And could you possibly not do it?”

“What are you talking about?” Prentis asks, looking confused for the first time. 

“The technology that you use to make the dead come back and repeat your coordinates. I want you to destroy it.” I say to him, completely serious. 

“We don't have anything like that.” Prentis laughs nervously. “Even this ships belongs to the glorious Arcateenians.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “So who sends the message?”

Prentis doesn’t answer, just sniffs. 

Glancing over at Bennett and O’Donnell, I make a decision. “Let’s go back to the Tardis, see if the Doctor has found out any new information.”

I could have called him here, but to be honest I just wanted to get away from Prentis. His personal space issues were starting to annoy me. 

So, as soon as we get back to the Tardis, I dial the Doctor. Hopefully he has his phone on him. Two rings in, and the monitor fritzes, call being transferred to the big screen there. 

Huh, handy that. 

I set the phone down on the console, waiting for him to pick up.

When he does, the Doctor’s face is white, the corner of his eyes tight with stress. 

“What is it?” I ask him, hating that I can’t feel him from the distance time has put between us. “What’s wrong.”

“Um, well.” He hesitates. 

The video tilts and Clara’s face comes into view. She smiles, but it’s just a stressed as the look on the Doctors face. “Mabel…another ghost has appeared.”

I frown, not understanding that reaction. “Who? Has someone died?”

“It’s yours.” Clara murmurs. 

A chill runs down my spine. Mine? The Doctor’s expression suddenly makes sense. 

“-bel, are you okay?” Clara’s voice breaks through my panic, bringing me back to the situation at hand. 

“I’m okay for now.” I respond, straightening my back. 

Her eyes flicker to something behind the phone, then back to me. “What does it mean?” 

Shaking my head, I raise an eyebrow at her. “I’m sure the Doctor has already explained exactly what it means.”

“I don’t believe that!” Clara explodes. “You two are always meddling somewhere. There has to be a way to change it!”

“Clara.” I make an effort to soften my voice. “We can only change things when we don’t know it’s coming. You’ve already seen my ghost, that means it’s already happened. It’s fixed now.”

The phone tilts again, image spinning before coalescing into the Doctor’s face. “No.”

I frown at him. “What do you mean no?”

“It can’t end this way.” The Doctor states. “You have so much more ahead of you. I’m seen you do that already. You can’t die here.” 

“Doctor, you know as well as I do, that particular future is always in flux.” I murmur, touching the monitor. 

“Take me off the monitor.” He demands. I can see the rush of movement that means he’s moving away from the others. 

I do as he says, gesturing to Bennett and O’Donnell that I’ll be right back. Once I’m far enough away, I look down at the phone in concern. “What is it?”

“This isn’t something that you can just go and decide for yourself!” His voice whips through the phone, mirroring the harshness of his face. “You can’t just give up, say you are done and that’s it.”

“What can I do? You saw my ghost, it’s fixed now.” I reply, fear making my voice come out harsher than I intended it to. 

“So what? We break the rules all the time, why can’t we just break a few more?” He asks, desperation shining through. 

My heart twinges at the sight of his face. “I can’t save the people who have already died, Doctor.”

“No.” He agrees. “However, if you figure out what’s happening, and why, then you might be able to stop anyone else from dying.” ‘Including yourself’ are the unspoken words behind what he’s just said. 

I sigh, wiping my hand across my face. “Okay. Okay, I’ll try. We just met the undertaker and he’s still alive for now.” 

The Doctor breaths out in relief, looking so very thankful. 

“Hey now, stop that. I said I’d try. It’s not certain.” I scold him, not wanting him to get his hopes up only to have them crushed if I fail.

“In my experience, when Mabel makes a promise, it generally works out.” He tells me, eyes fond. 

I roll my own eyes in response, connecting it back to the monitor so everyone can see what’s going on. “Okay, what else can you tell me?” 

The Doctor’s forehead furrows in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean about my ghost.” Try to keep up Doctor. “Any signs of how I died?” 

“Ah.” He murmurs. “You scarf is missing, and you are saying something different than the other ghosts were.” 

I hum in understanding. “What am I saying?” 

“A list of names. Moran, Pritchard, Prentis, O’Donnell, Doctor, Mabel, Clara, Bennett, Cass.” The Doctor pauses. “Who’s Prentis?”

“The alien from Tivoli.” I reply. The image on the monitor jerks. “What’s going on, are you okay?”

“Your ghost is in the room with us now. But you’re not doing anything, why aren’t you trying to kill us like the others?” The Doctor asks me like I would know. 

I raise an eyebrow, not that he can see it while he’s focusing on ghost me, but the thought still counts. “Isn’t it a good thing that I’m not trying to kill you?”

“Ah, well. It looks like you are trying to kill us. You just released the other ghosts from the Faraday cage.” He murmurs. “And now you’ve just stopped.” 

‘The message has changed. She’s saying something different. She’s saying-‘ Tim cuts off. 

“What am I saying now?” I ask. 

‘She’s saying the chamber will open tonight.’ Tim continues, finally. 

The chamber will open tonight. What?

“Doctor.” I put all the urgency I’m feeling into my voice so he will focus on me. “Now that the ghosts are out, you all can go to the Faraday cage.” 

The Doctor purses his lips. “If I do that, then the signal won’t go through to the phone.” 

I shake my head. “Figure it out, I’m going to need a way to keep in touch. If the message changes-“

“I’ll let you know.” He cuts me off. “See you soon.” 

The phone call disconnects before I can respond. 

I bend over the console, closing my eyes while letting out a sigh. How am I supposed to do this? 

C’mon Mabel, put everything together. The missing power cell, the moved suspended-animation, the names. 

The fact that this valley is under water. 

And the fact that my ghost has been the only one to say something different than the others. 

“Mabel.” O’Donnell calls out, voice soft. 

I open my eyes, manic energy filling me. “I might be able to do this.” 

She looks taken aback. “Do what?” 

“Save the people who haven’t died yet.” Baring my teeth at her, I pay no attention to how her face goes slack in shock. 

The Tardis chimes behind me, panel opening and a slim device sliding out. I pick it up, examining it. It’s more streamlined than the one the Doctor uses, but it is unmistakably a screwdriver. 

“Did you just give me a sonic screwdriver?” I ask her. She burbles, and I get the impression that she’s saying something along the lines of ‘you’re going to need it’.

Thanks dear. 

“Let’s go.” I tell them, striding towards the door. But, maybe I should.. “Not you O’Donnell.”

“Why not?” She asks, instantly pissed off. 

I bite back a sarcastic response. “I need someone to stay here in case the Doctor calls again.” 

“The last person to say something like that to me got kick in the balls.” O’Donnell says, narrowing her eyes at me.

“Maybe Mabel’s right.” Bennett states, ignoring the warning glare O’Donnell gives him. “Maybe it's best if you stay here.”

“Never going to happen.” She responds, walking out of the doors. “Seriously, have you two met me?”

Well, that didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. I exchange a displeased look with Bennett, before the two of us hurry after her.

Unfortunately, by the time we get back to the spaceship, the body that had been lying on the table is no longer there and Prentis is lying dead in its place. 

"Guess that dead body wasn't so dead after all." O'Donnell mutters. 

Bennett gestures at the wall behind us. "And now we've got the writing." 

I take in the words with dread, things are getting that much closer to how we found them in the future and I'm running out of time to fix it. 

"And it looks as though the Fisher King has taken the suspended-animation with him into the church." I add, seeing the drag marks. "We need to get out of here. Now." 

Nobody moves. "I mean RUN!" That gets them moving. 

Before we can get very far, a loud, very vicious roar cuts us off. It's coming from the direction of the Tardis. 

O'Donnell looks around. "What was that?" 

"In here." I hiss, making sure the two of them go first. "It's cut us off, we won't be able to get back to the Tardis that way." In here being a dilapidated building, but at least it was better than being in the open. 

As we run, O'Donnell starts to fall back. I can tell It's difficult for her to keep up with the speed we are attempting. Bennett slows down as well to help her, but she brushes him off. "Let's split up. Go on, Bennett!" 

"No!" I order. "We need to stay together right now." 

"There's no time!" O'Donnell hisses back, lowering her voice in response to the audible footsteps coming our way. She ducks into a side corridor as I watch in horror. 

Bennett grabs me around the waist, pulling me around the corner and into a bathroom. Our breathing is loud in the sudden silence, and I attempt to regulate mine. 

The footsteps get louder, passing our hiding spot and not stopping. I almost breathe a sigh of relief when there is another loud roar coming from the direction that O'Donnell is hidden. Bennett immediately opens the door and runs from the room, and I let him. He's in no danger now. The next person on the list is the Doctor. 

Walking around the corner slowly, I find Bennett kneeling next to O'Donnell. He has a tight hold of her hand, pulling the rest of her body into his arms. "Why did you come? You shouldn't have come. I mean, you never listen to anyone. It drives me mad.” 

It's a struggle for her to get the words out. "To keep an eye on you, idiot. So, don't die." 

"No." Bennett refuses, shaking O'Donnell when she goes still. He lowers his head over her body. 

I just look on in shame. The list said she was next, I should have tried harder to fix it. 

"Who's next on the list?" Bennett asks me, almost no emotion in his voice. He lowers O'Donnell to the ground softly, then stands up and removes his glasses, staring me straight in the eyes. "That list your ghost was saying, that's the order in which people are going to die, isn't it? I mean, I've only just figured that out. But you knew that all along, didn't you?" His stare bores into me as he ticks off the names. "Moran, Pritchard, Prentis, O'Donnell." 

"Her ghost hadn't been there, in the future. I thought I might be able to help.." I trail off, knowing my words are a cold comfort. 

"Yeah, but you didn't try very hard to stop her, though, did you?" Bennett states, voice getting colder. "So who's next?" 

I swallow hard. There is nothing I can say to refute that. I could have tried harder. "The Doctor." 

He narrows his eyes at me. "Yeah. Yeah. Except now you're going to do something about it, aren't you? Yeah, because it's getting closer to you. You change history to save yourself but not to save O'Donnell. You wouldn't save her." 

"No, I don't particularly care about my own life in this instance." I tell him, seeing him do a double take at the sincerity in my voice. "But I do care about the Doctor's. I'm going to change history to save his life." 

Bennett walks away in disgust. I can't exactly blame him. Here I was, getting angry with the Doctor earlier when I wasn't any better. I really was the worst sort of hypocrite. 

Kneeling down next to O'Donnell, I pull her coat tighter around her body. 

"So what's next?" Bennett asks, startling me. 

"We are going to screw the rules, and I am going to save the Doctor." I tell him, decisiveness straightening my spine. "We need the Tardis." 

Predictably, the path to the Tardis is now clear, and we make it there in minutes. 

Bennet keeps pace with me, looking confused. "How are you going to do that?" 

"I'm going to go back and pick the Doctor up" I clarify, going over to the telepathic circuits once more and sticking my fingers in. "Ghosts and timelines be damned." 

The Tardis takes off in flight, but this time something is bothering her. Her cloister bell rings once and then we materialize. 

A quick peak outside of the Tardis shows that we are in the same area that we first traveled to. "Why are we still here?" 

I walk a few steps away, then have to backtrack quickly as I see myself standing next to the Tardis. My heart pounds even as I throw an arm out to stop Bennett from walking into view. "Shit." 

"What?" He asks, looking at my arm like it's poison. 

I release him, cursing once more. "The Tardis has taken us back to when we first got here. We traveled to about thirty minutes before we just were." 

Bennet shakes his head. "So what do we do now?" 

"Try to stay out of sight, at least until we catch up to where we were earlier." I explain, frowning as we round the other side of the building and see Prentis who is still alive and well. 

"Prentis, he's still alive." Bennett breathes, as if he's just realized what I told him earlier was real. 

"Don't think that way." I shake my head. "He's still dead, he just hasn't died yet." 

"Yeah, but he's right there." Bennett says, looking back over at Prentis. "I mean, we can just-" 

I cut him off. "Bennett, whatever you are thinking, stop. There are rules that we have to follow. I don't want him to die, but I've already seen it happen. So have you. It's fixed now. If we try to undo that then the universe has its own way of making sure these things happen." I shiver, thinking about the reapers that the Doctor has told me about. It feels as though we are on a precipice, one that can fall either way. "They are dead already. You pretending otherwise is an insult to their memory." 

He looks away, nodding. 

"Okay then." I gesture for us to get a little closer, hiding behind a couple of barrels labeled toxic waste. 

It is quite bizarre to see yourself from the front, it's like looking in the mirror only not. Unfortunately, seeing O'Donnell seems to be too much for Bennett. He stands up, clearly intending to storm over, so I do the first thing that pops into my head. I tackle him to the ground. 

It's a short tussle, but one that ends with sore chin for me, and a ripped jacket for him. 

In the end, we both watch as the other version of ourselves walk off back towards their Tardis. When I stand up, I have to close my eyes briefly as I notice that my scarf has been torn. 

"Not enough time." I mutter, frantically thinking. 

"You." I turn to Bennett, ignoring the way his eyes widen at the sight of my face. "Go back to the Tardis, she'll keep you safe. The Fisher King won't be able to get through her doors." 

"But, what are you going to do?" Bennet asks as he starts to walk away. 

"Hopefully, something clever." I reply, raising my voice only slightly. 

I hear him walk away, but I don’t pay him much mind. The Fisher King has gotten up from his table, and it is a frightening sight to behold. Standing at over 7 feet tall, it has some type of bone armor overtops of it’s chest and arms. The face looks like something out of a predator movie. The Fisher King carves the coordinates into the wall of the ship, then somehow tilts my perception of it. I know it’s still there, but my eyes just slide right off of it. 

Prentis hurries back from wherever he’d gone, into the spaceship none the wiser. 

For all of my big words earlier, when I told Bennett he couldn’t change anything, I was incredibly difficult to stay where I was. Here was a man, he wasn’t the brightest person in the universe but did that mean he deserved to die? 

No. But I couldn’t do anything about it. 

Prentis turns to look at the words, and the Fisher King uncloaks himself. The noise of a blaster pulse rings out. Prentis is dead. 

The Fisher King drags the suspended-animation chamber from the ship into the church. I slip from my hiding spot before the noise has completely disappeared. Quickly running into the ship, I spare a moment of silence for Prentis, then remove the power cell.

There is a reason it was missing in the first place, and that reason was me. I jurry rig it to do what I need to, planting it next to the dam. Then, discarding my useless scarf, I go to confront the Fisher King in the church. 

Once inside, I find the suspended-animation in the middle of the room, open. There is heavy breathing coming from the darkness in the outside corners of the room, but I ignore that as I contemplate the chamber. 

A quick scan with my screwdriver supports what I’ve put together so far, compatible technology. 

"Are you not going to beg for your life?" The Fisher King asks, voice deeper than I would have thought. 

"No." I answer simply. "I've come from the future. I've already seen what you will do." 

It doesn't come as a question, it comes as an order. "Tell me what you have seen." 

Arrogant alien, I scoff internally. "I've seen ghosts." 

There is a pause. "Ghosts?" 

"The dead, risen again." I explain. "Repeating coordinates to this very spot." 

"How many ghosts do I create?" The Fish King demands to know. "How many!" 

"There were four the last I heard, probably five by now." I'm still facing the suspended-animation so the Fisher King doesn't see how much it costs me to keep my temper leashed. 

"My ghosts will make more ghosts. Enough to bring an armada. Enough to wake me from my sleep." The Fisher King hisses. 

"What will happen when they get here?" I ask, needing to be certain. "What will you have them do?" 

The Fisher King laughs, a grating sound. "We will drain the oceans and put the humans in chains." 

I turn to face him, calm even though his visage is truly terrifying. "I have a problem with that. You see, this world is protected." 

"By you? One woman who is lost in time is hardly a threat" The Fisher King scoffs, so secure in his own superiority. "The seed of their destruction is already sown. They will die. The message will be sent. My people will come, and you will do nothing to stop it, Time Lady." 

"Time Lady's, Time Lords. Cowardly, vain curators who suddenly remembered they had teeth and became the most warlike race in the galaxy." Contempt in is his voice as he advances on me, but I hold my ground and don't let him push me off balance. "But you, you! You are curious. You have seen the words, too. I can hear them tick inside you. But you are still locked in your history. Still slavishly protecting Time. Willing to die rather than change a word of the future." 

His head tilts to the side. "You will be a strong beacon. How many ghosts can I make of you?" 

I bare my teeth at him in an imitation of a smile.

“You called me a Time Lady. It’s technically correct, but I grew up as a human.” The Fisher King pauses, and bite back a laugh. “Don’t mention the rules of time to me, not after you’ve perverted the sanctity of death itself and turned those people into endless messengers.” Pausing for effect, I tilt my head. “The rules don’t apply to me, and you’d do well to remember that.”

“There is nothing you can do.” The Fisher King states, raising his weapon and aiming it at my chest.

I smile, leaning closer to the gun. “Oh honey, I’ve already done it. Those words? They aren’t there anymore. I got rid of them. The future that I talked about will never happen now.”

The Fisher King snarls. “You can’t do that.”

“You threatened people I care for.” I respond, just as viciously. “There is nothing that I won’t do to protect them.”

Pushing me aside roughly, the Fisher King takes the bait. I watch him go. 

Once he’s outside, I point the screwdriver at the suspended animation chamber. Setting up what needs to happen once the chamber has been brought to the base. Encoding the different messages my hologram needs to say, so I know what to tell it to say. I have no talent at code, but the chamber itself already has the necessary functions. All I have to do is think.

Finished with that, I point the screwdriver back in the general direction of the Tardis. It chimes, and not a moment too soon, as the ground shakes, indicating that the power cell I set to explode had indeed exploded. 

Which also means I need to get into the suspended-animation chamber or everything will have been for nothing. Scrambling in, I press the button on the side of my screwdriver, closing the doors. 

Two seconds pass where I wonder if it’s even going to work, before everything fades to black.

It’s as if I’ve just blinked my eyes. Closed one minute, open the next, as the doors open above me. 

Sitting up abruptly, I beam at the stunned faces of those around me. Even the Doctors. “Haha! Hello there!”

“Mabel?” The Doctor asks, voice shocked. 

I ignore him, hurrying out of the chamber. “Follow me!” Taking off towards the headquarters room, I can hear the sound of footsteps scrambling to follow me. As soon as I get there, I shove the end of my new screwdriver into the console. 

The sound of the Fisher King snarling fills the air. 

“What is that noise?” Clara asks, eyes intent on my face. 

“That is the sound of the Fisher King.” I tell her, smile sharp enough to cut. “It’s something that should be able to control them.”

On the security feed we can see the ghosts turn around and head through the wall. 

“Where are you leading them?” The Doctor asks. Ha, that man probably knew what was going on the second I attached the sonic to the console. 

I click a button, changing cameras so we can watch as the ghosts walk down the corridor and into the Faraday cage. 

The Doctor makes a noise of understanding, reaching over and remotely closing the door. The noise of the Fisher King cuts off abruptly. 

I let out an almost inaudible breath of relief, which gets me a sharp look from the Doctor in response. “A hologram then?” 

“Yeah.” I reply. “Like the one we made of Clara earlier.”

Scooping me up, the Doctor holds me tight to his chest. His relief is permeating the air around us. 

I clutch him back, taking the comfort where I can get it, finally able to breathe properly for the first time in what feels like an age. 

The Doctor pulls back, only to kiss me as if his life depends on it. Which, to be fair, his life had depended on me there for a bit. 

Pulling back, giddy at the feeling of success, I laugh. “We did it.” 

“No.” The Doctor pushes a lock of hair behind my ear. “You did it.” His eyes flicker over to the console and a smile forms on his lips. “And it looks like you got a new accessory out of it as well.” 

I turn, pulling my screwdriver from the console now that it’s not needed. “I know right? The Tardis gave it to me, and it was exactly what I needed to figure out how to fix as much as I could.” Looking down, my mask of happiness falls. “I couldn’t save O’Donnell, or Prentis.”

“I know.” The Doctor murmurs, understanding coming through our connection. It doesn’t make me feel any better. He turns away and faces everyone else. “First things first, Mabel may have taken care of the threat in the past, but those ghosts can still kill us if they get free. So. We need to delete those coordinates from out minds just in case.”

“And how are we supposed to do that?” Tim asks. 

“Well, now that we know what it really was, I can delete it.” The Doctor states, pulling his sonic sunglasses from his jacket pocket and placing them on his face. 

“You can do that?” I narrow my eyes at him. “No way.”

“Yes way.” The Doctor replies, taking them from his face and putting them on mine instead. I can feel them, a gentle probe, cleansing the coordinates from my mind. 

Letting them finish, I give him a wan smile. He frowns, but continues the deletion, placing the glasses on Clara’s face. She smiles at him. “So what was it? Mabel’s ghost.”

“I’m assuming it was a hologram.” The Doctor glances at me to confirm, and I nod. 

“The suspended-animation already had the program for one in it.” I explain. “All I had to do was send it an image of my body, set it to show up after the chamber got pulled back into proximity to the spaceship, and incorporate the phrases you saw me mouth.”

Clara hums as the Doctor pulls the glasses from her face and puts them on Cass. “And why did the ghosts only come out during night mode?”

“That’s because they're electromagnetic projections that were out of phase with the base's day mode.” The Doctor says, pulling the glasses from Cass. “Right, I’ve erased the memory of the writing. Though you might find you've lost a couple of other memories too. You know, like people you went to school with, or previous addresses or how to drink liquids.” He looks around. “Where's Bennett?” 

“I sent him back with the Tardis, did they not show up?” I frown, going up to the console and bringing up an image of the Tardis in the last spot I saw it. It’s there, but where is Bennett-

Oh. 

The image flickers, but ultimately stays on the screen. He’s in front of the Faraday cage, watching the ghosts inside.

The Doctor clasps my shoulder, turning to leave the room. Clara and the others follow him, leaving me to my thoughts. 

I don’t really feel like facing Bennett again. So, feeling like a coward but ultimately unable to help myself, I slip away to the Tardis while they are busy in front of the Faraday cage. 

Instead of going to our room, which I know will be the first place the Doctor will look for me, I go deeper into the Tardis than normal. 

The corridors become sparser, until there is only one door left to go through, which I begrudgingly do. It’s the edge of a mountain, with fog so thick you can’t see any farther than 20 feet in front of your face. 

Perfect place for introspection. 

At some point, my internal clock tells me that it’s several hours later, the Doctor walks through the door.

His joints creak as he lowers himself to sit on the ground next to me. “So, are you done brooding yet?”

Annoyance sparks, and I send him a look. 

“I could hear you thinking all the way across the Tardis.” The Doctor says, ignoring my look. “It was like a storm cloud in the back of my mind.”

I sigh heavily. Now that he’s here, I know that he’s not going to leave me in peace. So, best to bite the bullet. “I’m a hypocrite.”

He hums, encouraging, but doesn’t say anything. 

“I got angry with you earlier, for being careless with your words. And then I turn around and let two people die. Prentis, I couldn’t do anything for. His death was fixed from the first moment I saw his body, but I could have tried harder to save O’Donnell and I didn’t” I admit, looking up at the ceiling so I won’t have to see the look on his face. 

Because of that, the resulting scoff takes me off guard. “I have a hard time believing that you did anything of the sort.” He raises a hand, stopping me when I try to respond. “How many times did you try to get her to stay back?” 

I frown, wondering where he’s going with this. “Twice.” 

“And I’m assuming that she didn’t listen to you either time.” He continues. 

“No.” Narrowing my eyes at him, I feel myself start to get angry. “Are you trying to say that it was her fault?” 

“No. I’m trying to say that it’s nobodies fault. You tried to keep her from getting hurt, and she decided to not listen to you. It’s life.” The Doctor turns his head to look at me, eyes fond. “You can’t save everyone, Mabel.”

I know that. This was just…the first person who was my responsibility that I’d let down. 

“I know.” He murmurs, arm coming around my shoulder and pulling me into his side. 

And so we sit here, watching the fog swirl by as I contemplate life choices.


	16. After the rise comes the fall (Midnight)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, it's here. 
> 
> This chapter took forever. So. Much. Dialogue.
> 
> -RainingCoffee

Pulling the covers from over my head, the Doctor gives me an unimpressed look in response to my glare. “Don’t give me that, you’ve been sulking for two days now. It’s time to get up and do something else.”

I sigh deeply, turning over in the bed so all he can see is my back. 

“Do you really think that’s going to work on me?” He murmurs, laughter in his voice. 

The fact that he finds my protest to be charming actually makes my mood even worse. 

There is the sound of cloth moving against cloth, then the Doctor picks me up, sheet and all. The angle is awkward, and I don’t have much leverage. I don’t even know where he’s taking me until he drops me in the shower and turns the cold water on. 

An involuntary yelp escapes my mouth as I try to free myself from the sheet burrito that I’d somehow gotten tangled up in. By the time I emerge, more awake than I’ve ever been in my life, the Doctor has already vacated the room. 

I can feel him, good humor humming in the back of mind, a direct counterpoint to my dark mood. It occurs to me that I can get incredibly angry about this, and then it occurs to me that I’m not a child. 

Which, to be fair, I had been acting like one for a couple of days now. 

My sulk disintegrates before it can even get going properly, washed away by the cold water. No wonder the Doctor had thrown me into the shower. 

Hah, that man. 

So, sucking it up, I finish my shower. After turning it to warm water of course. 

After I’m dry, and my hair is nearly there as well, I go into our closet. Instead of choosing something from my collection of leggings and graphic tee’s, I walk right past them and head straight to the area holding dresses. 

I don’t normally wear dresses, feeling more at home in my normal ensemble, but I was still feeling a bit raw from the last couple of days. 

A casual blue dress catches my attention. It’s high necked, with lace that extends from the neck, over my shoulders, until it meets the top of the dress right above the breast line. Looks like it would fall to right above my knee. It’s perfect. 

The perfect armor for the day. And also, probably a good apology as well.

Choosing a pair of flats to go with it, I lay them both out on the bed while I retreat back into the bathroom to do my makeup. Or at least the scant amount of makeup I know how to do. Some eyeliner, a brush of mascara, and a nice matte nude lipstick later and I’m ready for my dress. 

Sitting next to my dress, however, is something new. A stylized pair of glasses, a little more fancy than I normally wear, but something that will go great with the outfit I picked out. A smile tugs at the corner of my lips. The Tardis is helping me dress up.

The dress fits perfectly, not that I doubted it, and I slip on my flats. One last look in the mirror to check that everything is good, which it’s good enough for me, and I head out of our room to go looking for the Doctor. 

He’s in the console room, I don’t know why I expected him to be anywhere else. 

His back is to me when I enter, but his head rises, so I know he knows I’m there. “Done sulking dear?”

I roll my eyes even though he can’t see me. “Yes, though you could have gone about it in a different way.”

“I tried.” The Doctor replies, voice mild. Which is true, he had tried. I just hadn’t wanted to listen to it at the time. 

“Fair enough.” I’ll give him that. 

He turns to look at me, an eyebrow already rising, but he stops as soon as he gets a look at what I’m wearing. 

I frown at him. “Doctor?” 

The Doctor doesn’t respond. 

Waving a hand in front of his face doesn’t get a reaction either. Until the Doctor catches it while it’s on one of it’s passes. His face warms, affection evident. “Oh Mabel, look at you.” 

I look down, biting my lip even as a pleased flush spreads across my nose. “I was feeling the need to dress up a bit today.” I look up at him from under my lashes. “I take it you approve?”

“Of course I approve, you minx.” There is a hint of a rumble lurking under his voice, one that fires up an answering heat in me. “It’s a shame that I won’t get to enjoy it for very long.” 

“Huh?” I blink up at him in confusion, thrown by the non-sequitur.

The Doctor tugs on my dress, bringing my attention to the glow that’s starting to creep up my legs. 

Oh. 

Disappointment unfurls, I had intended the dress to be a sort of unspoken apology for how I’d been acting the past couple of days. Looks like that wasn’t going to happen now. 

Brushing that aside, I focus instead on the soft look of affection he’s directing towards me. Going up on my tip toes, I wait a beat. 

The Doctor’s lips twitch, even as he meets me in the middle for a kiss. 

The kiss is soft, gentle. 

And then he’s gone. And so am I. 

My awareness of him, ramped up as it seemed to be permanently now, disappears. It’s an unsettling feeling. One that has something in the base of my head twinging in pain. I can feel the world restructure around me, though I can’t quite see it yet, and with it comes new awareness of the Doctor. A different Doctor.

My mind stops cringing, which is nice. But what’s even nicer is the Doctor’s burst of happiness the moment he registers my arrival. 

“Mabel!” He calls out, arms coming around my shoulders to pull me back into his chest. 

I pat his arm, feeling affectionate, while I wait for my vision to return. When it does, I turn to look at him, beaming. 

The Doctor’s face goes slack. 

This time, I know what’s going on, and I just raise an eyebrow at him. “Like what you see?”

“Blimey Mabel, what’s the special occasion?” He asks, shaking his head as if to clear the cobwebs out. 

“It was supposed to be an apology, but I didn’t get to stay for very long.” I worry the bottom of the dress between my fingers. “In fact, I didn’t even get to say it properly before I jumped.” 

The Doctor grabs the hand that’s worrying my dress, bringing it up and placing a kiss on my knuckles. “An apology huh, I’ll be sure to remember that. Well, let’s see it then.” Using our linked hands, he twirls me. My dress swooshes and I laugh even as he twirls me right back into his chest. 

“Well.” I ask, looking up at him. “What’s the final verdict?”

“Gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous.” He murmurs, eyes bright. “Not that you aren’t always gorgeous to me.” 

Even as my cheeks heat up once again, I can’t help but roll my eyes at him. “You are such a sap.” 

The Doctor’s smile kicks up a notch, dimples showing. “That’s me, professional sap.” He tilts his head to the side. “How do you feel about a sapphire waterfall?”

“In what context?” I ask him, confused by the abrupt change in topic. 

“As a date location.” He elaborates, tucking my hand around his arm. 

I light up, grasping his arm just a little tighter. It feels as though it’s been a while since we’ve been on a date. And I’ve never been on a date with this version of the Doctor. “Sapphire waterfalls you say?”

The corners of the Doctor’s eyes crinkle in response. “It's a waterfall made of sapphires. This enormous jewel, the size of a glacier reaches the Cliffs of Oblivion, and then shatters into sapphires at the edge. They fall a hundred thousand feet into a crystal ravine.”

“Ooh, look at that romance.” I tease him as he leads us in the direction of what looks to be a shuttle of some sort. “You know just what to say to get a woman interested, don’t you?”

“Centuries of practice, Dear, centuries of practice.” The Doctor responds cheekily, flashing the psychic paper to get us on the shuttle. 

Once inside, I’m strongly reminded of an airplane, only there is much more leg room. We choose a seat close to the front, but not quite the first row. 

“So how long does it take to get to this waterfall made of Sapphires?” I ask him, siting down. 

The Doctor doesn’t respond, so I look up at him. He has a wry look on his face. “Ah, about 4 hours or so?” 

I roll my eyes in response. Of course it will take that long to get there. “I can’t even say I’m surprised.” 

“It’ll be worth it.” He promises, scratching the back of his head in a sheepish movement even as he takes his own seat.

“I’m sure it will be.” I say, amused despite myself. 

The Hostess steps up to us with a wheeled buggy. “Complimentary juice pack, complimentary peanuts.” She says, handing us said items. 

I smile at her. “Thank you.”

“That's the headphones for channels one to thirty six.” The hostess continues, handing us more items. “Modem link for 3D vidgames. Complimentary earplugs. Complimentary slippers.” She gives us a customer service smile. “I must warn you some products may contain nuts.”

“That'll be the peanuts.” The Doctor states, causing her to turn back to us. 

“Enjoy your trip.” The hostess offers, turning back to the next set of people she’s helping. 

The Doctor smiles. “Oh I can’t wait. Allons-y!”

The hostess turns back to him. “I’m sorry?”

“It’s French for ‘let’s go’.” He explains. 

“Fascinating.” The Hostess comments, giving him another customer service smile. 

The Doctor slumps back in his seat, a pout on his lips. 

I pat him on the leg. “You tried sweetheart.”

A person behind us leans forward. We turn to face him and he offer the Doctor his hand. “Hobbes. Professor Winfold Hobbes.”

The Doctor shakes the offered hand, a smile on his face “I'm the Doctor. Hello.”

“And I’m Mabel.” I offer, shaking his hand as well. Hobbes looks decidedly lass enthusiastic to be shaking my hand then he did the Doctor’s. 

“It's my fourteenth time.” Hobbes tells us, previous cheer returning. 

“Oh. It’s our first.” The Doctor responds. 

A woman, younger than the Professor, pops up out of the seat next to him. “And I’m Dee Dee, Dee Dee Blasco.” 

“Don't bother them.” Hobbes scolds her. She sits down, and Hobbes retreats as well. 

I exchange a look with the Doctor, not pleased with the encounter. He shrugs, in a ‘what can you do’ kind of way.

Unfortunately, before I can turn around and start up another conversation, the Hostess walks to the from of the compartment. “Ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon, welcome on board the Crusader Fifty. If you would fasten your seatbelts, we'll be leaving any moment. Doors.”

The doors close. 

“Shields down.” She continues. 

The shields comes down, blocking the light from getting inside. 

“I'm afraid the view is shielded until we reach the Waterfall Palace. Also, a reminder. Midnight has no air, so please don't touch the exterior door seals.” The hostess smiles at us once again. “Fire exit at the rear, and should we need to use it, you first. Now I will hand you over to Driver Joe.”

The intercom crackles. “Driver Joe at the wheel. There's been a diamondfall at the Winter Witch Canyon, so we'll be taking a slight detour, as you'll see on the map. The journey covers five hundred kliks to the Multifaceted Coast. Duration is estimated at four hours. Thank you for travelling with us, and as they used to say in the olden days, wagons roll.”

I look over at the Doctor, biting my lip to hold in a smile. He has no such compunctions, beaming away like it’s Christmas. 

“For your entertainment, we have the Music Channel playing retrovids of Earth classics.” The Hostess tells us, pressing a remote and causing several screens to drop down from the ceiling. “Also, the latest artistic installation from Ludovico Klein.” Another press of a button and a holographic projection pops up on the wall. “Plus, for the youngsters, a rare treat. The Animation Archives.” A projection of Betty Boop appears on a screen n front of the drivers cabin. “Four hours of fun time. Enjoy.”

While I’m sure any of these features would have been tolerable on their lonesome, the conglomeration of noise all of them creates together is piercing. Thankfully, the Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver and shuts the whole entertainment system down. 

I lean over to give him a grateful kiss on the cheek. 

He preens after, the peacock, looking so very pleased with himself. 

“Well, that's a mercy.” Hobbes mutter from behind us. 

The Hostess walks forward, looking very hassled. “I do apologize, ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon. We seem to have a failure of the Entertainment System.”

“Oohh.” The Doctor exaggerates, looking around like he can find the reason for the entertainment system failing.

“But what do we do?” A woman from the back asks.

“We've got four hours of this?” The man sitting next to her looks dismayed. “Four hours of just sitting here?”

Twisting around in his seat, the Doctor beams out at the other passengers. “Tell you what. We'll have to talk to each other instead.”

And that’s what we do. I learn that that the man and woman sitting next to each other are husband and wife, and their names are Val and Biff. Their son is with them. His name is Jethro, though he’s sitting in another isle. 

Also, Biff tells bad jokes. But that’s kind of a father’s prerogative anyways. 

There’s a woman sitting in the front by herself, her name is Sky. I guess her partner just recently left her so she’s not all that happy right now. 

I manage to get the Hostess to drop her customer service smile and actually tell me her name. It’s Rakie, and she’s pretty funny when she’s not trying to do her job. 

Some one gets Hobbes fired up and he proceeds to lecture us on the planet we are on, Midnight. He even has slides and everything. 

“So, this is Midnight, do you see, bombarded by the sun. Xtonic rays, raw galvanic radiation.” He gestures over to Dee Dee. “Dee Dee, next slide. It's my pet project. Actually, I'm the first person to research this. Because, you see, the history is fascinating. Because there is no history. There's no life in this entire system. There couldn't be. Before the Leisure Palace Company moved in, no one had come here in all eternity. No living thing.”

“But how do you know?” Jethro asks, actually sitting up and paying attention. His careful attitude of disinterest has vanished. “I mean, if no one can go outside.”

“Oh, his imagination.” Val scoffs. Jethro sinks back down into his seat. “Here we go.”

“He's got a point, though.” The Doctor chimes in. 

“Exactly.” Hobbes says. “We look upon this world through glass, safe inside our metal box. Even the Leisure Palace was lowered down from orbit. And here we are now, crossing Midnight, but never touching it.”

I consider his words, but I don’t have time to consider them for very long as the shuttle we on are shakes and the sound of the engines running cuts off. 

“We've stopped.” Val frowns, looking around. “Have we stopped?”

“Are we there?” Biff asks. 

Dee Dee shakes her head. “We can't be, it's too soon.”

“They don't stop.” Hobbes mumbles. “Crusader vehicles never stop.”

“If you could just return to your seats.” Rakie prompts, heading over to the intercom on the wall. “It's just a small delay.”

“Maybe just a pit stop.” Biff offers, shrugging. 

“There's no pit to stop in.” Hobbes argues. “I've been on this expedition fourteen times. They never stop.”

“Well, evidently we have stopped, so there's no point in denying it.” Sky states, sending the professor an annoyed look.

Jethro laughs. “We've broken down.”

“Thanks, Jethro.” Val mutters. 

“In the middle of nowhere.” Jethro continues, lowering his voice. 

“That's enough.” Biff says, irritated. “Now stop it.”

Rakie walks back. “Ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon. We're just experiencing a short delay. The driver needs to stabilize the engine feeds. It's perfectly routine, so if you could just stay in your seats.”

I look over at the Doctor, raising an eyebrow. His lips twitch and he nods at me. We both approach the door to the cockpit, but Rakie gets in our way, looking distressed. “No, I'm sorry, I. Could you please?”

The Doctor flashes his psychic paper. “There you go. We’re engine experts. Two ticks.” Ignoring her continued protests, he presses the button to open the door, and then we are in the cockpit. 

There are two men in the cockpit, and one whirls around at the sound of the door opening. “Sorry. If you could return to your seat, sir, ma’am.”

“Company insurance.” The Doctor says, flashing his psychic paper once again. “Let's see if we can get an early assessment. So, what's the problem, Driver Joe?”

Driver Joe looks unconcerned. “We're stabilizing the engine feeds. Won't take long.”

The Doctor looks at a monitor on the wall. “Er, no, because that's the engine feed.” He points to a line on monitor. “That line there, and it's fine. And it's a micropetrol engine, so stabilizing doesn't really make sense, does it?” He looks at Driver Joe. “Sorry. I'm the Doctor, I'm very clever. So, what's wrong?”

“We just stopped.” The other man admits. “Look, all systems fine, everything's working, but we're not moving.”

Pulling his sonic out, the Doctor scans the console. “Yeah, you're right. No faults.” Looking at the man who had just spoken, the Doctor offers him a smile. “And who are you?”

“Claude. I'm the mechanic.” Claude pauses for a second. “Trainee.”

“Nice to meet you Claude.” I jump in, smiling at the man. 

“I've sent a distress signal. They should dispatch a rescue truck, top speed.” Driver Joe states. 

I hum. “And how long will the rescue truck take to get here?”

Driver Joe shrugs. “About an hour.”

The Doctor looks over at me, excited, before turning back to Driver Joe. “Well, since we're waiting, shall we take a look outside? Just lift the screens a bit?”

“It's a hundred percent X-tonic out there.” Driver Joe looks at the Doctor like he’s crazy. “We'd be vaporized.”

“Nah.” The Doctor refutes. “Those windows are Finitoglass. They'd give you a couple of minutes. Go on, live a little.” 

He ends it with one of those irresistible smirks, one that makes me want to kiss it off his face. A flash of his eyes in my direction tells me that he’s not unaware of the connection. Ugh, this man. 

In the meantime, Driver Joe seems to have given in. He presses a button and the shields raise. The glowing diamond outcrops of Midnight gleam in the x-tonic sunlight. 

My breath catches in my throat at the sight. “Oh, wow.” 

The Doctor clasps my hand in his, linking our fingers. “Oh Mabel, look at how beautiful it is.” 

“Look at all those diamonds.” Claude murmurs. “Poisoned by the sun. No-one can ever touch them.”

“Joe, you said we took a detour?” The Doctor asks, voice distracted. 

Driver Joe nods. “Just about forty kliks to the west.”

The Doctor hums. “Is that a recognized path?”

“No, it's a new one.” Driver Joe states. “The computer worked it out on automatic.”

“That means that we are the first people to see this path.” I murmur, awe in my voice. 

These are the moments that I live for. Traveling with the Doctor makes you take for granted that amazing things you start to see, but every now and again a sight will hit you and you’ll feel like you’re back at the beginning all over again. 

I squeeze the Doctor’s hand, sharing with him just how breathtaking the sight is to me. He shares his in return, and buried deep down, there is just a hint of smug male satisfaction. My resulting burst of amusement must tip him off, because I feel his rush of embarrassment. 

Sure enough, a glance in his direction shows him stubbornly looking forward even though the tips of his ears are bright red. 

The Doctor clears his throat. “So we're the first. This piece of ground. No one's ever been here before. Not in the whole of recorded history.”

“Did you just?” Claude leans forward, eyes intent. He leans back after a moment. “No, sorry, it's nothing.”

“What did you see?” The Doctor asks him. 

Claude points out the window. “Just there. That ridge. Like, like a shadow. Just, just for a second.” 

I narrow my eyes against the glare, concentrating. “What kind of shadow?”

The console beeps. Driver Joe checks the readouts, then presses a button. The shields start to lower. “X-tonic rising. Shields down.”

“Look, look. There it is, there it is. Look, there.” Claude continues to point until the shields completely drop. 

“What was it?” I ask in the sudden silence. 

“Like just something shifting.” Claude looks at me, unsettled. “Something sort of dark, like it was running.”

The Doctor focuses on Claude. “Running which way?”

Claude swallows. “Towards us.”

“Right” Driver Joe states. “Back to your seats, you two. And, er, not a word. Rescue's on its way. If you could close the door. Thank you.” 

I back out of the room, pulling the Doctor with me. Neither of us are pleased about it, but I know better than to push anymore. 

As soon as we exit the cabin, Sky is there. “What did they say? Did they tell you? What is it? What's wrong?”

“The engines are just stabilizing, that’s all.” I tell her, my own version of a customer service smile on my face. 

“It happens all the time.” The Doctor continues. 

“I don't need this.” Sky complains. “I'm on a schedule. This is completely unnecessary.”

“Back to your seats, thank you.” Rakie tells us, before entering the cockpit herself. 

The Doctor and I make our way back to our seats, but before we can get comfortable Dee Dee leans forward. 

“Excuse me, Doctor, but they're micropetrol engines, aren't they?” She asks. 

“Now, don't bother the man.” Hobbes scolds. 

“My father was a mechanic.” Dee Dee states, turning to Hobbes, before turning back to us. “Micropetrol doesn't stabilize. What does stabilize mean?”

Smart girl. 

“Well.” The Doctor hedges. “Bit of flim-flam. Don't worry, they're sorting it out.”

“So it's not the engines?” Hobbes leans forward. 

“It’s just a pause, that’s all.” The Doctor tells him. 

Hobbes doesn’t look convinced. “How much air have we got?”

I frown, taking in everyone’s expression. “Professor, it’s fine.” 

“What did he say?” Val jumps in. “Did he say we’re running out of air?” 

“I was just speculating.” Hobbes states, taken aback. 

Rakie enters the compartment once again and is immediately bombarded with questions. 

“Is that right, miss? Are we running out of air?” “Is that what the Captain said?” “How much air have we got?”

“I assure you, everything is under control.” Rakie tells them, but no one looks convinced. 

“Well, doesn't look like it to me.” Biff comments. 

“Well, he said it.” Val throws Hobbes under the bus. 

“It's fine.” Dee Dee states. “The air is on a circular filter.”

But no one is listening. They just keep talking over one another. I get up out of my seat, irritated. “Everyone be quiet!”

It works, the noise dies down. But now everyone is looking at me. 

“Thank you.” The Doctor sends a pointed look out towards the people in the shuttle. “Now, if you'd care to listen to my good friend Dee Dee.”

Dee Dee gives him a look of panic. It only lasts a moment, before she firms her chin, standing up to address the compartment. “Oh. Er, it's just that, well, the air’s on a circular filter, so we could stay breathing for ten years.”

The Doctor nods. He surveys the room, gaze stern. “There you go. And I've spoken to the Captain. I can guarantee you everything's fine.”

It would have been convincing, but as soon as he finishes something bangs along the outside of the shuttle twice. 

“Now what was that?” I murmur into the resulting silence. 

“It must be the metal.” Hobbes assumes. “We're cooling down. It's just settling.”

“Rocks. It could be rocks falling.” Dee Dee offers. 

Or it might have something to do with the shadow that Claude saw earlier, running for the shuttle. 

“What I want to know is, how long do we have to sit here.” Biff frowns in irritation. 

There are two more knocks, this time on a different part of the hull. 

“What is that?” Sky demands.

“There's someone out there.” Val states, looking around in fear.

Hobbes scoffs. “Now, don't be ridiculous.”

“Like I said, it could be rocks.” Dee Dee says again. 

Rakie shakes her head. “We're out in the open. Nothing could fall against the sides.”

There are two more knocks. 

“Knock knock.” The Doctor murmurs, standing up from his seat. 

“Who's there?” Jethro exaggerates, a slight smile on his face. 

“Is there something out there?” Sky asks. No one responds. “Well? Anyone?”

Another two knocks on the hull. 

“Okay, starting to get creepy here.” I mutter. 

“What the hell is making that noise?” Sky demands, panicked. 

“I'm sorry, but the light out there is x-tonic. That means it would destroy any living thing in a split second.” Hobbes states. His voice sounds as if he’s explaining something to a group of small children. “It is impossible for someone to be outside.”

“Professor, I’d shut up right about now.” I scold him, irritated by his constant denials. “Just because you don’t think something is possible, doesn’t mean that it’s not happening. You said it yourself earlier, that this planet was virtually unstudied. Just because you can’t survive in x-tonic sunlight doesn’t mean there isn’t something that can.”

Another two thumps. 

“There it is again.” Sky murmurs. 

The Doctor moves over to the wall, ignoring Rakie’s protests, and pull out a stethoscope. He places the end of it against the hull and waits. “Hello?”

Another two thumps, but this time they’ve sped up. 

Jethro takes a step forward. “It’s moving.” 

The emergency exit starts to rattle, like someone is trying to get in. 

“It's trying the door!” Val points at the door in question. 

“There is no it.” Hobbes continues. “There's nothing out there. Can't be.”

The emergency door rattles again. There are two more knocks on the roof, then two knocks on the entrance door. 

“That's the entrance.” Val states, still panicked. “Can it get in?”

Dee Dee shakes her head. “No. That door's on two hundred weight hydraulics.”

“Stop it. Don't encourage them.” Hobbes hisses. He’s really starting to get on my nerves. 

But this time, Dee Dee seems to have gotten tired of him constantly telling her to stop, because she turns around and snaps back. “What do you think it is?”

Biff approaches the door, ignoring his wife’s protest. 

The Doctor reaches out for him, his own voice cautious. “Mister Cane. Better not.”

Knocking on the door three times, Biff smiles even as he turns back to us. “Nah, it's cast iron, that door.”

Three rapid knocks on the door come in response. 

“It answered!” Jethro looks around in shock. “It answered.” 

“Alright, alright.” I push forward, herding the rest of the group away from the door. “Let’s step away now.” 

“No, but it answered.” Sky insists. “Don't tell me that thing's not alive. It answered him.”

“I really must insist you get back to your seats.” Rakie jumps in. 

“No, don't just stand there telling us the rules.” Sky yells, turning to Rakie. “You're the hostess. You're supposed to do something.”

“Oi!” I cut in, not pleased at all with what is going on. I get in between Sky and Rakie, focusing on Sky. “Stop yelling at her. She’s just as confused as the rest of us. I know you’re scared Sky, that’s no reason to take it out on Rakie.” 

Sky narrows her eyes at me, but backs down. 

The Doctor step forward, examining the door. He knocks four times. 

Nothing happens. At least for a couple of pregnant seconds. And then four knocks answer him from the other side of the shuttle. 

“What is it? What the hell's making that noise? She said she'd get me. Stop it. Make it stop. Somebody make it stop.” Sky looks around at the people watching her and just gets more panicked. “Don't just stand there looking at me.” She points at Jethro, then at the Doctor. “It's not my fault. He started it with his stories. And he made it worse!”

“Calm down.” Dee Dee urges.

“You're not helping.” Val cuts in. 

“Why didn't you leave it alone? Stop staring at me. Just tell me what the hell it is.” Sky demands. 

Dee Dee takes a deep breath before raising her voice. “Calm down!”

Sky goes silent. But the knocking get louder, and more insistent. 

“It's coming for me.” Sky insists, backing up against the cockpit door. “Oh, it's coming for me.” She screams, high pitched and grating. 

“Get out of there!” The Doctor responds, reaching for Sky. 

There’s a loud bang, and the whole shuttle is rocked from one side to the other. The light flicker, people are screaming, and I honestly don’t know which way is up and which way is down. It takes several seconds, but I finally realize that the weight on my chest isn’t the floor, but the Doctor who has landed on me. 

“You okay?” I whisper, frightened by this whole situation. 

The Doctor nods, sitting up and immediately turning to help me up as well. “You?”

I shake my head. “I don’t think I’m hurt, no. What about everyone else?” 

The Doctor raises his head, peeking out over the seat we found ourselves in. “How are we doing? Everyone okay?”

The lights are still off, but the entertainment system seems to have came back on. That singer is singing again. 

“Earthquake.” Hobbes mutters. “Must be.”

“But that's impossible. The ground is fixed. It's solid.” Dee Dee argues, sitting up from her position over the chairs she was thrown on top of. 

“We've got torches.” Rakie states. “Everyone take a torch. They're in the back of the seats.” 

And then there are beams of light shooting through the darkness. 

“Oh, Jethro. Sweetheart, come here.” Val murmurs. 

“Never mind me.” Jethro replies, taking a step towards the front. “What about her?”

Her? I turn to look at the front of the shuttle to see what he’s looking at. It’s Sky, huddled in the debris of chairs. They look as if they’ve been ripped up. 

“What happened to the seats?” Val asks. 

“Who did that?” Biff demands. 

I scramble to the front, kneeling next to Sky. “It’s okay Sky, it’s over now. The wall’s intact.” Shining my torch at the hull, I focus on the large dent. It’s as if something tried to get in. “See, look. Nothing got in.” 

“Driver Joe, can you hear me?” Rakie says behind us. I assume she’s trying to get ahold of the people in the cockpit. “I'm not getting any response. The intercom must be down.” She walks up to the door, pressing the button to open it. 

X-tonic light floods the shuttle. One second passes, then two, before Rakie manages to press the button again. She stumbles back even as the door closes, but you can tell how close of a call it was from the way her clothing is smoking slightly. 

The Doctor rushes forward, using his sonic on the panel next to the wall. 

“What happened? What was that?” Val demands. 

“Is it the driver?” Biff asks. “Have we lost the driver?”

“The cabin's gone.” Rakie says, looking shocked. 

“Don't be ridiculous.” Hobbes scoffs. “It can't be gone. How can it be gone?”

“Well, well, you saw it.” Dee Dee snaps back. 

“There was nothing there, like it was ripped away.” Rakie continues. 

“What are you doing?” Biff asks, pointing his flashlight towards where the Doctor is working. 

“Ah, that's better. Little bit of light. Thank you.” The Doctor murmurs. “Molto bene.”

Val looks concerned. “Do you know what you're doing?”

“The cabin's gone.” Biff chimes in. “You'd better leave that wall alone.” 

“The cabin can't be gone.” Hobbes reiterates. 

“No, it's safe. Any rupture would automatically seal itself.” The Doctor explains. He pulls the panel from the wall, staring at the wires which look like they’ve been sheered off. “But something sliced it off. You're right, the cabin's gone.”

“But if it gets separated?” Rakie trails off. 

The Doctor turns around, face serious. “It loses integrity. I'm sorry, they've been reduced to dust. The driver and the mechanic.” He stands up, raising a hand to ward off the hubbub that’s trying to start once again. “But they sent a distress signal. Help is on its way. They saved our lives. We are going to get out of here, I promise. We're still alive, and they are going to find us.”

“Doctor, look at her.” Jethro stares at Sky who’s still hunched over on the ground facing away from us. 

“Right. Yes. Sorry.” The Doctor looks around. “Have we got a medical kit?”

Jethro looks disturbed. “Why won't she turn around?”

I place a hand on her shoulder. “Sky, are you okay?” 

“Can you move, Sky?” The Doctor continues. “Can you turn to look at us?”

“That noise from outside.” Jethro swallows. “It's stopped.”

“Well, thank God for that.” Val mutters. 

“But what if it's not outside anymore? What if it's inside?” Jethro asks. 

“Inside?” Val scoffs. “Where?”

Jethro points to Sky. “It was heading for her.”

“Now let’s not jump to any conclusions just yet.” I murmur. 

The Doctor kneels next to us. “Sky? It's all right, Sky. I just want you to turn around and face me.”

Sky takes her hands off her head, slowly turning around. There is a second where she doesn’t do anything but then she suddenly looks up at Hobbes. Then her head jerks over to look at Jethro. Then me, then the Doctor.

“Sky?” I prompt, deeply concerned. This is nothing like that woman that I was talking with earlier.

Sky focuses on me. “Sky?”

“Are you alright?” I continue. 

“Are you alright?” She echoes me. 

I tilt my head to the side in confusion and she tilts her head the same way. “Sky, why are you copying me?”

Sky just looks at me, her eyes intent. “Sky, why are you copying me?”

“Sky, we’re trying to help.” The Doctor cuts in. 

“Sky, we’re trying to help.” She echoes him as well. 

He frowns, just a bit. “My name's the Doctor.”

Sky watches him. “My name’s the Doctor.” 

“Okay.” The Doctor grimaces. “Can you stop?”

“Okay, can you stop?” Sky repeats. 

The Doctor narrows his eyes. “I'd like you to stop.”

Sky doesn’t even hesitate. “I'd like you to stop.”

“Why's she doing that?” Hobbes asks. 

“Why's she doing that?” Sky echoes, her head jerking to look at Hobbes. 

Biff shakes his head. “She's gone mad.”

Sky jerks her head to look at Biff. “She's gone mad.”

“Stop it.” Val demands. 

“Stop it.” Sky echoes, jerking her head to look at Val. 

Val’s face becomes even more distressed. “I said stop it.”

Sky watches her, eyes still intent. “I said stop it.”

The others start up again, and Sky echoes each and every single word. Her eyes are unsettling, as if they can crawl into you and leave you nothing but an empty void. 

“Be quiet.” I interrupt, voice raised so everyone can hear me. The chatter comes to a halt. 

Sky turns to look at me. “Be quiet.” 

Going back to my previous line of questioning, I repeat myself. “Sky, why are you repeating?”

“Sky, why are you repeating?” She echoes. 

“What is that, learning?” The Doctor asks, leaning forward. 

Sky jerks her head to look at the Doctor. “What is that, learning?”

The Doctor narrows his eyes. “Copying?”

“Copying?” Sky echoes. 

“Or is it absorbing?” The Doctor hypothesizes. 

Sky just looks at him. “Or is it absorbing?”

“The square root of pi is 1.772453850905516027298167483341.” Sky starts to echo him two seconds into the recitation, and she keeps up, finishing exactly two seconds after he started. The Doctor leans back, reluctantly impressed. “Wow.”

The group starts up again. Sky echoing everything. “But that's impossible.” “She couldn't repeat all that.” “Tell her to stop.” “She's driving me mad.” “Just make her stop!” “Stop her staring at me. Shut her up.” “It's got to be a trick.”

“Now, just stop it, all of you.” The Doctor stands up, raising his voice to be heard. 

“Now stop it, all of you.” Sky echoes. 

No one listens to him. 

“Her eyes.” Hobbes breathes. “What's wrong with her eyes?”

Sky jerks her head to look at him. “Her eyes. What's wrong with her eyes?”

Jethro shakes his head. “She can copy anything.”

“She can copy anything.” Sky echoes, proving his statement true. 

“All of you, stop it!” I bite the inside of my cheek, frustrated. “The only thing this is doing is making you more terrified.”

“She's different.” Val mutters, obviously frightened. “She's something else. Do something. Make her stop.”

Sky turns to Val. “She's different. She's something else. Do something. Make her stop.” 

Thankfully, at that moment the lights turn back on properly. The suddenness of it makes everyone in the compartment stop talking. 

“That's the back up system.” Rakie murmurs, looking up at the lights. 

“Well, that's a bit better.” Biff states. 

“What about the rescue? How long's it going to take?” Val asks Rakie. 

“About sixty minutes.” Rakie replies. “That's all.”

“Then I suggest we all calm down. This panic isn't helping.” Hobbes points out. This is the first intelligent thing I’ve heard him say in a long while. “That poor woman is evidently in a state of self induced hysteria. We should leave her alone.” 

“I think we should all stop talking now.” I murmur, eyes fixed on Sky. 

“You know young lady, I’m starting to get tired of you telling people to be quiet.” Hobbes says, the tone scathing. “I think you are the one.” Hobbes pauses, finally seeming to understand what’s happening. “What is she doing?”

“How can she do that?” Val asks, alarmed to find Sky talking with her as well. It seems as if Sky had gone on to the next step. First step was copying, second step was talking with the person. I’m really not looking forward to the third step. “She's talking with you. And with me. Oh, my God. Biff, what's she doing?” 

“She's repeating, at exactly the same time.” Jethro states, Sky staying in sync with him. 

“That's impossible.” Dee Dee breathes. 

Hobbes shakes his head. “There's not even a delay.”

Jethro laughs. “Oh man, that is weird.”

“I think you should all be very, very quiet. Have you got that?” The Doctor sends a stern look to everyone in the shuttle. 

“How's she doing it?” Val asks. 

The Doctor throws out a hand in Val’s direction. “Mrs Cane, please be quiet.”

“How can she do that?” Val demands, getting more hysterical. “She's got my voice! She's got my words!”

Biff pulls Val back, putting an arm around her shoulders in comfort. “Come on, be quiet. Hush, now. Hush.” He pauses, looking back over at Sky. “She's doing it to me.”

 

“Just stop it, all of you. Stop it, please.” The Doctor kneels down next to Sky once again. “Now then, Sky. Are you Sky? Is Sky still in there? Mrs Silvestry?” He tilts his head to the side in thought. “You know exactly what I'm going to say. How are you doing that?”

There is a moment of pause, then the Doctor starts again. “Roast beef. Bananas. The Medusa Cascade. Bang! Rose Tyler, Martha Jones, Donna Noble, Tardis. Shamble bobble dibble dooble.” He smirks, a hint of mischief in his expression. “Oh, Doctor, you're so handsome. Yes, I am, thank you.”

Sky keeps up with him, in every way. Saying the exact same words at the exact same time. 

“A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O.” The Doctor tries, but Sky still repeats at the same time. “First she repeats, then she catches up. What's the next stage?”

“Next stage of what?” Dee Dee asks. 

“That's not her, is it. That's not Mrs Silvestry any more.” Jethro states, looking at the Doctor for confirmation. 

“I don't think so, no. I think the more we talk, the more she learns. Now, I'm all for education, but in this case, maybe not. Let's just move back.” The Doctor pulls me up. “Come on Mabel, let’s get back.” 

The two of us herd the rest of the passengers back away from Sky. “Come on. Everyone, get back. All of you, as far as you can.”

“Doctor, make her stop.” Val pleads. 

“Val, come with me. Come to the back. Stop looking at her.” The Doctor prompts.

“Come on, Jethro. You too.” I tell him, gesturing for him to move back. 

“Fifty minutes, that's all we need. Fifty minutes till the rescue arrives. And she's not exactly strong. Look at her. All she's got is our voices.” The Doctor tells them. An attempt to lower the panic in the room. 

“I can't, I can't look at her. It's those eyes.” Val says, then proceeds to stare straight at Sky. 

“We must not look at goblin men.” Dee Dee murmurs. 

“What's that supposed to mean?” Biff looks around at everyone, confused. 

“It's a poem. Christina Rossetti.” The Doctor states. He’s positioned himself so that if anyone tries to get to Sky, they’d have to go through him first. 

Unfortunately, it leaves his back wide open. I tilt myself, so I have a view of the group, but I also have a view of Sky. While the Doctor might be right in the fact that she just has our voices, I think he’s forgetting the power that words can have on people. And this group of people is easily frightened. 

“We must not look at goblin men.” Dee Dee continues. “We must not buy their fruits. Who knows upon what soil they fed their hungry, thirsty roots?”

“Actually, I don't think that's helping.” The Doctor points out, frowning at Dee Dee. 

“She's not a goblin, or a monster. She's just a very sick woman.” Hobbes argues. 

“Maybe that's why it went for her.” Jethro states. 

Hobbes shakes his head. “There is no it.”

“Think about it though.” Jethro looks at Hobbes. “That knocking went all the way round the bus until it found her. And she was the most scared out of all of us. Maybe that's what it needed. That's how it got in.”

“For the last time. Nothing can live on the surface of Midnight.” Hobbes insists, vehemently. 

“Professor, I'm glad you've got an absolute definition of life in the universe, but perhaps the universe has got ideas of its own, hmm?” The Doctor says. It seems as if he’s finally starting to lose patience with these people. “Now trust me, I've got previous experience. I think there might well be some consciousness inside Mrs Silvestry, but maybe she's still in there. And it's our job to help her.”

“Agreed.” I murmur. 

“Well, you can help her. I'm not going near.” Biff shakes his head. 

“No, we’ve got to stay back, because if she's copying us, then maybe the final stage is becoming us. I don't want her becoming me.” The Doctor’s eyes flicker to me.” “Or you, or things could get a whole lot worse.”

“Oh, like the two of you are so special.” Val scoffs. 

“As it happens, yes, we are.” The Doctor states with a stern look in Val’s direction. “So that's decided. We stay back, and we wait. When the rescue ship comes, we can get her to hospital.”

“We should throw her out.” Rakie murmurs, eyes on Sky. 

We all turn to look at her.

“I beg your pardon?” Hobbes looks at Rakie like she’s crazy. 

“Can we do that?” Val asks. 

“Don't be ridiculous.” The Doctor hisses, looking between the two women. 

“That thing, whatever it is, killed the driver, and the mechanic” Rakie points out. “And I don't think she's finished yet.”

The Doctor gestures at Sky. “She can't even move.”

“Look at her.” Rakie insists. “Look at her eyes. She killed Joe, and she killed Claude, and we're next.”

“Everybody, you just need to calm down.” I say, making eye contact with each person. “All this is doing is creating more fear. We are not throwing Sky out of the shuttle.” 

“She's still doing it.” Biff ignores me, looking at Sky. 

“I don’t care that she’s still doing it. If you were to stop talking, you wouldn’t notice it anymore.” I tell him, fed up with everyone’s behavior. 

“But she won't stop. We can't throw her out, though. We can't even open the doors.” Biff continues, ignoring me once again. 

“No one is getting thrown out.” The Doctor insists. 

“Yes, we can.” Dee Dee murmurs. “Because there's an air pressure seal. Like when you opened the cabin door, you weren't pulled out. You had a couple of seconds, because it takes the pressure wall about six seconds to collapse. Well, six seconds exactly. That's enough time to throw someone out.”

“Thanks, Dee Dee.” The Doctor mutters, pursing his lips. “Just what we needed.”

“Would it kill her outside?” Val asks. She’s actually contemplating it. 

“I don't know. But she's got a body now. It would certainly kill the physical form.” Dee Dee tells her. 

“No one is killing anyone.” I insist. 

“I wouldn't risk the cabin door twice, but we've got that one.” Rakie point to the emergency exit. “All we need to do is grab hold of her and throw her out.”

“Now, listen, all of you.” The Doctor leans forward, upset. “For all we know that's a brand new life form over there. And if it's come inside to discover us, than what's it found? This little bunch of humans. What do you amount to, murder? Because this is where you decide. You decide who you are. Could you actually murder her? Any of you? Really? Or are you better than that?”

There’s a pause where no one says anything and I think he’s done it, managed to convince them not to do this, 

“I'd do it.” Rakie says into the silence. 

Biff nods. “So would I.”

“And me.” Val states. 

“I think we should.” Dee Dee looks around at everyone. 

“What?” The Doctor leans back, flabbergasted. 

Dee Dee looks at him dead in the eyes. “I want her out.”

The Doctor shakes his head. “You can't say that.” 

“I'm sorry, but you said it yourself, Doctor. She is growing in strength.” Dee Dee tries to justify herself. 

“That's not what I said.” The Doctor insists. 

“I want to go home.” Dee Dee ‘s face shakes like she’s holding back tears. “I'm sorry. I want to be safe.”

“You'll be safe any minute now.” The Doctor tells her. “The rescue truck is on its way.”

“But what happens then, Doctor? If it takes that thing back to the Leisure Palace, if that thing reaches civilization. What if it spreads?” Rakie asks. It’s a valid question, as much as I hate this line of thought I have to at least admit that. 

“No, because when we get back to the base, I'll be there to contain it.” The Doctor explains. 

I close my eyes for a second. Bad move Doctor. 

“You haven't done much so far.” Val scoffs. 

“You're just standing in the back with the rest of us.” Biff continues. 

All the hostility, it’s all pointed toward the Doctor now. 

“And what is he supposed to do?” I ask them. “He’s trying to keep all of you safe.” 

“She's dangerous. It's my job to see that this vessel is safe, and we should get rid of her.” Rakie cuts in, looking around. 

“Now, hang on. I think perhaps we're all going a little bit too far.” Hobbes shakes his head. 

“At last.” The Doctor gives Hobbes a grateful look. “Thank you.”

Rakie looks at him. “Two people are dead.”

“Don't make it a third.” The Doctor growls, before turning to Jethro. “Jethro, what do you say?”

“I'm not killing anyone.” Jethro states. 

“Thank you.” The Doctor nods at him. 

“He's just a boy.” Val snaps. 

Jethro immediately turns defensive. “What, so I don't get a vote?”

“There isn't a vote.” The Doctor snaps. “It's not happening. Ever. If you try to throw her out that door, you'll have to get past me first.”

“Okay.” Rakie looks at him, no hesitation. 

“Fine by me.” Biff agrees with her. 

I take a step forward. “And you’ll have to go through me.” Glancing around at all their faces, I try and reason with them. “Could you go through two people, then physically pick that woman up and murder her? Could you actually do it?”

Biff takes a step closer to me, obviously intending it to be threatening. “Are you calling me a coward?”

“This isn’t a matter of cowardice or not.” I hiss, done with these people. 

“Who put you in charge, anyway?” Val asks. Her eyes flicker over to the Doctor. “Or you, for that matter?”

“I'm sorry, but you're a Doctor of what exactly?” Hobbes cuts in, derision on his face. 

“They weren’t even booked in. The rest of you, tickets in advance. They just turned up out of the blue.” Rakie informs the others. Thanks Rakie. 

“Where from?” Val demands. 

The Doctor takes a step back, pulling me with him. “We’re just travelers. That’s all. We’re traveling.”

Val scoffs. “He hasn't even told us his name.”

“The thing is though, Doctor.” Jethro states. “You've been loving this.”

“Oh, Jethro, not you.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“No, but ever since all the trouble started, you've been loving it.” Jethro points out. 

He’s not wrong. 

“It has to be said, you do seem to have a certain glee.” Hobbes states. 

“All right, I'm interested. Yes, I can't help it.” The Doctor admits, turning to Sky before focusing on the group once more. “Because whatever's inside her, it's brand new, and that's fascinating.”

“What, you wanted this to happen?” Val asks, though it’s more like she demands. 

“No.” The Doctor shakes his head. 

Jethro tilts his head, studying us. “You called us humans like you're not one of us.” 

“He did.” Val nods. “That's what he said.”

The Doctor goes to open his mouth, but I clasp his hand in mine and squeeze. All his arguing is going to do right now is incite them to argue back more. 

“And the wiring. He went into that panel and opened up the wiring.” Dee Dee says. 

“That was after.” The Doctor replies, the words insistent. 

“But how did you know what to do?” Biff demands. 

The Doctor makes a frustrated noise. “Because I'm clever!”

“I see.” Hobbes frowns at the Doctor. “Well, that makes things clear.”

“And what are we, then?” Biff asks. “Idiots?”

“That’s not how he meant it, and you know it.” I interject, knowing it’s not going to help our case but not being able to help myself. “You’re all angry and taking everything the two of us say out of context.” 

“We’re scared!” Dee Dee shouts. 

“I know you’re scared! But murder is not the answer!” I snap back. 

“Then what is the proper answer?” Hobbes asks. 

I shake my head. “I don’t know.” 

“The proper answer is that we wait until the rescue shuttle gets here.” The Doctor interjects. “And no one kills anyone else.”

“You've been looking down on us from the moment we walked in.” Val hisses at him, worked up again. 

“Even if he goes, he's practically volunteered.” Rakie murmurs. 

“Oh come on, just listen to yourself, please.” The Doctor looks around and I feel his unease at the harsh, unyielding faces looking back at us. 

“Do you mean we throw him out as well?” Biff asks, breathless. 

Rakie studies us. “If we have to.”

“You are not throwing anyone out the door!” I insist, the only thing keeping me from stepping into their personal space is the grip the Doctor has on my hand. 

“Look, just. Right, sorry, yes, hold on, just.” The Doctor tries to diffuse the situation. “I know you're scared, and so am I. Look at me, I am. But we have all got to calm down and cool off and think.”

“Perhaps you could tell us your name.” Rakie offers. 

The Doctor shakes his head. “What does it matter?”

“My name is Mabel Falkov, and his name is John Falkov. We’re just travelers.” I jump in, thinking on my feet. 

“She’s lying.” Biff scoffs. 

“Their eyes are the same as hers.” Val states, her own eyes flickering between the two of us. 

“Why are you lying to us?” Jethro asks, studying our expressions. 

“I’m not lying!” I insist. And I’m not, the only thing I’m fudging is the Doctor’s name. And if we are married at some point in the future then I’m sure having him use my last name is within the rules. 

“It’s a simple question.” Hobbes narrows his eyes at us. 

“Now listen to me. Listen to me right now, because you need us, all of you. If we are going to get out of this, then you need us.” The Doctor states, some of his desperation starting to shine through. 

“So you keep saying.” Hobbes looks at the Doctor with cold eyes. “You've been repeating yourself more than her.”

“If anyone's in charge, it should be the Professor. He's the expert.” Val cuts in. 

“Mum, stop.” Jethro murmurs, looking at something over our shoulders. “Just look.”

Val shakes her head. “You keep out of this, Jethro.” 

“Look at her!” Jethro insists. 

I whirl around, the Doctor turning with me. 

“She’s stopped.” Dee Dee murmurs. The familiar echo of Sky behind her words is gone. Sky’s not repeating anymore. 

“When did she?” The Doctor pauses, confused. Sky is still copying his words. “No, she hasn't. She's still doing it.”

“She looks the same to me.” Val says. Sky does not echo her. “No, she's stopped. Look, I'm talking, and she's not.” 

There is a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. This is not good at all. 

“What about me, is she? Look. Look at that. She's not doing me. She's let me go.” Biff looks relieved. 

“Mrs Silvestry?” Rakie tries. “Nor me. Nothing.”

“Why me?” The Doctor asks along with Sky. “Why are you doing this?”

“Do you see? I said so. She's with him.” Val states, throwing him under the bus. 

“How do you explain it, Doctor, if you're so clever?” Hobbes asks, a hint of scorn in his voice. 

“I don't know.” The Doctor snaps. “Sky, stop it. I said stop it. Just stop it.” 

I lay a hand on his arm to calm him. “Calm down, Doctor.” This is the first time I’ve spoken since Sky stopped echoing everyone besides the Doctor, and it’s not comforting to find that she’s also still echoing me. 

Val’s eyes flicker between us. “Look at the three of them.”

The Doctor takes a deep breath, closing his eyes briefly. When he next opens them, there is none of the discomfort or frustration on his face even though I can still feel it humming away in the corner of my mind dedicated to him. “Mrs Silvestry, I'm trying to understand. You've captured our speech. What for?”

“Sky.” I walk over and kneel down next to her, not letting my face show how disturbing her staring is. She’s still echoing me. “Why the two of us in particular? The Doctor is a very clever man. Is that it, you are looking for cleverness?” 

Sky’s head turns from the Doctor and focuses on me, the motion is jerky. 

“Cleverness then. Why? Is it because we’re the only ones who can help?” The Doctor asks. His voice is stark with the sound of silence accompanying it. “Why did you stop echoing me now?”

I swallow hard. “Why are you choosing particular people to echo now?” Sure enough, she’s still talking with me.

“Be careful Mabel.” The Doctor cautions, hand curling around my arm as if he’s going to pull me away at the first sign of danger. 

“Why am I the person who you are echoing now?” A quicksilver burst of realization. The Doctor and I were the only one’s arguing for her to stay, we obviously have knowledge of aliens. We’re both clever. But I told the Doctor to calm down earlier and he did. I showed her that I had some sort of control over him. “Ohh, I get it now.” 

Shaking my head, I continue. “Sky, listen. I don’t know what you want, but I do know that the Doctor and I are good at helping. Whatever it is you want, we can make it happen. I promise I will do everything in my power to make it work.” 

I feel it before it happens, the insidious crawling sensation of the entity layering itself on top of my mind. Sky opens her mouth. “Do we have a deal?” The words are torn from my throat a second later. My words, the words that I was going to say, she’s said them first. 

The Doctor’s hand tightens around my arm, my perception of him has been completely cut off. “Mabel?” 

I throw my panic against the barrier the entity has placed, but it doesn’t do anything besides bounce back at me. 

“Hold on, did she?” Dee Dee doesn’t finish her question, but the intent is clear. 

“Sky spoke first.” Jethro adds. 

There is the shift of cloth on cloth. Val speaks next. “She can't have.”

“She did.” Hobbes confirms. 

“Mabel? What’s wrong?” The Doctor asks me, turning me to face him. 

I can’t do anything but look at him in panic, voice stuck in my throat and my body frozen. 

“Oh, look at that.” Sky states, a hint of victory in her voice. I echo her a second later. “I'm ahead of you.”

The Doctor’s face goes slack in shock. I think he’s finally realized what’s happened. 

“Did you see?” Hobbes asks. “Sky spoke before Mabel did. Definitely.”

“Mabel is copying Sky now.” Jethro continues. 

“Doctor, what's happening?” Hobbes demands, voice raising. 

“It’s taken Mabel’s voice.” The Doctor answers, shock giving way to anger. Raw, dangerous anger. He turns to Sky. “Whatever you’re doing, stop it now!”

“I think it's moved.” Sky continues, she’s still staring at me. I can see her from the corner of my eye. “I think it's letting me go.” 

“What do you mean?” Dee Dee asks. “Letting you go from what?”

“But Mabel’s repeating now. She's the one doing it. It's her.” Biff accuses. 

No, no no no no no. Please don’t. My heart starts to race. 

Jethro moves a step closer to us over the Doctor’s shoulder. “They're separating.”

“Mrs Silvestry, is that you?” Hobbes addresses Sky. 

“Yes. Yes, it's me.” Sky says, her expression is exaggerated. I echo her, the words torn from my throat no matter how much I try to hold them back. 

“No, stop it.” The Doctor demands, turning back towards the group. “That’s not what happened.”

“I'm coming back.” Sky insists. The creature raises her hands and looks at them like she’s never had them before. “Listen. It’s me.”

“Like it's passed into the Mabel. It's transferred. Whatever it is, it's gone inside her.” Jethro chimes in, looking me dead in the eyes. 

“No, that's not what happened.” Dee Dee whispers.

“I said stop it!” The Doctor orders, voice dropping a register in his anger. 

“But look at her Doctor.” Val insists. 

“Look at me, I can move. I can feel again. I'm coming back to life. And look at her. She can't move.” Sky looks over at the group and extends her arm. “Help me. Professor? Get me away from her. Please.”

The Doctor shakes his head rapidly. “Don’t do it.” 

“But she’s asking for help.” Hobbes argues, inching his way forward. 

“I’m telling you, that’s not Sky. It’s taken Mabel’s voice.” The Doctor insists. 

Hobbes ignores the Doctor, takes the last two steps forward and helps Sky up.

“Oh, thank you.” Sky tells him, my voice accompanying hers a second later. My vision sways, energy starting to dip. What ever this creature is doing, it seems to be draining me as well as stealing my voice. 

“They've completely separated.” Jethro states. 

“It's in Mabel. Do you see? I said it was her all the time.” Biff insists. 

“Sky's free.” Val continues for her husband. “She's been saved.”

The Doctor’s mouth is a sharp slash across his face. It’s clear he’s lost control of the situation.

“Oh, it was so cold.” Sky starts, looking at the group. I echo her, even as a bead of sweat runs down my back. Her mannerisms have adapted. Sky’s voice sounds less mechanical now, more realistic. “I couldn't breathe. I'm sorry. I must have scared you so much.”

“No, no, it's all right. I've got you.” Val rushes over and gives Sky a hug. “Ooo, there you are, my love. It's gone. Everything's all right now.”

“I wouldn't touch her.” Dee Dee cautions. Smart girl.

“But it's gone.” Biff argues. “She's clean. It passed into him.”

Dee shakes her head at him. “That's not what happened.”

“Thank you for your opinion, Dee, but clearly Mrs Silvestry has been released.” Hobbes scolds her. That man is insufferable. If we get out of this place in tact, maybe I can convince the Doctor to disprove one of Hobbes papers or something.

“No-“ Dee Dee starts, but Val cuts her off. 

“Just leave her alone. She's safe, isn't she?” Val turns to her son. “Jethro, it's let her go, hasn't it?”

“I think so, yeah. Looks like it.” Jethro looks over at Hobbes. “Professor?”

Hobbes nods. “I'd say, from observation, the Doctor can't move. And when she was possessed, she couldn't move, so-“

Biff cuts him off. “Well, there we are then. Now the only problem we've got is Mabel.”

The Doctor makes a noise of frustration. “No, the only problem we’ve got is Sky.” 

Mob mentality Doctor, I think to myself, it’s not going to work. 

“It's inside her head. It killed the driver. And the mechanic. And now it wants us.” Sky tells the group.

“I said so.” Val insists. 

“She's waited so long. In the dark. And the cold. And the diamonds.” Sky explains, every word I echo sends a bolt of terror down my spine. “Until you came. Bodies so hot. With blood. And pain.”

“Stop.” Val turns around and looks straight at me. “Oh, my God, make her stop. Someone make her stop.”

The Doctor stands up from my side, hands clenched at his sides. “This has gone on long enough.” He grabs Sky by the shoulders. “What have you done to Mabel?”

“I haven’t done anything.” Sky insists. She tilts her head towards the Professor. “Please, help me. He’s hurting me.” 

“Now look here, sir.” Hobbes demands, getting up into the Doctor’s face. “Leave Mrs. Silvestry alone.” 

“I will not leave her alone until she reverses what’s she’s done to Mabel!” The Doctor shouts, anger blinding him to the danger of the situation. I can see the punch coming from behind him, but there’s nothing I can do to warn him. 

Biff’s punch catches the Doctor off guard, and he falls hard, glancing off a seat before he hits the ground. There’s a thin streak of blood welling up along his temple. Even from my position I can see that his eyes are unfocused as he attempts to move. It doesn’t get him very far. 

“Stop it!” Dee Dee cries. 

“And you can shut up.” Val sneers at Dee Dee. 

Dee Dee shakes her head. “You want Mabel to be quiet, but Sky is the one saying the words in the first place!”

“But that's what the thing does, it repeats.” Biff reminds her. 

Hobbes holds up a hand. “Just let her talk.”

“What do you know?” Biff scoffs. “Fat lot of good you've been.”

“Just let her explain.” Hobbes snaps, glaring at Biff. 

“I think.” Dee Dee hesitates. “I mean, from what I've seen, it repeats, then it synchronizes, then it goes on to the next stage and that's exactly what the Doctor said would happen.”

“What, and you're on their side?” Biff asks her. 

“No.” Dee Dee responds, voice firm. 

“The voice is the thing.” Jethro states. 

“And Sky's the voice. She stole it.” Dee Dee turns around and points to me. “Look at her. It's not possessing Mabel, it's draining her.”

Even past the panic that’s threatening to choke me, I feel a tendril of pride for this woman. 

Rakie speaks up for the first time in a long time. “Sky's got her voice.”

“But that's not true, because it can't.” Val re-states. “Because I saw it pass into Mabel. I saw it with my own eyes.”

“So did I.” Biff says, coming to stand beside his wife. 

“You didn't.” Dee Dee insists. 

“It went from Sky, to Mabel.” Val turns to her son. “You saw it, didn't you?”

For the first time Jethro hesitates. “I don't know.”

“Oh, don't be stupid, Jethro. Of course you did.” Val steamrolls over his hesitation. 

“I suppose Mabel was right next to her.” Jethro offers. 

“Everyone saw it.” Biff states. “Everyone.” 

“You didn't.” Dee Dee insists once more. “You're just making it up. I know what I saw, and I saw her stealing Mabel’s voice.”

With a sinking sense of disappointment as I watch the expressions of the people around me, I realize that Dee Dee isn’t going to be able to change their minds. 

“She's as bad as Mabel. Someone shut her up.” Val demands, proving me right. 

“I think you should be quiet, Dee.” Hobbes tells her, voice quiet. 

“Well, I'm only saying-“ Dee starts, but Hobbes cuts her off as he is prone to doing. 

“And that's an order!” He tells her, voice raised. “You're making a fool of yourself, pretending you're an expert in mechanics and hydraulics, when I can tell you, you are nothing more than average at best. Now shut up.”

“That's how she does it. She makes you fight. Creeps into your head. And whispers. Listen.” Sky tilts her head. “Just listen. That's her. Inside.”

“Throw her out.” Biff demands, turning towards me. 

“Get her out of my head.” Val covers her ears as if that will help. 

Biff nods. “Yeah, we should throw her out.”

“Don't just talk about it, just.” Val shakes her head. “You're useless. Do something.”

“I will. You watch me.” Biff tells his wife. “I'm going to throw her out.”

“Yes. Throw her out. Get rid of her. Now.” Sky encourages. 

Biff comes up behind me and grabs me by the arms, starting to drag me towards the other end of the cabin. 

No, no, no no no.

Please no. 

“Don’t!” Dee Dee cries out. 

“It'll be you next.” Val tells her, voice harsh. 

“I don't think we should do this.” Rakie interjects. 

“It was your idea.” Biff tells her before looking over at Hobbes. “Professor, help me. She’s heavier than she looks.”

“I can't.” Hobbes hesitates. “I'm not.”

Biff scoffs. “What sort of a man are you? Come on.”

“I don’t think so.” The Doctor growls, hand tight on the seat beside him. It’s clear that the seat is the only thing keeping him upright at the moment. 

“Throw the both of them out.” Val demands, looking between the two of us.

“Professor, grab the Doctor.” Biff demands. “Jethro, help me with her.”

“Just do it.” Val insists. “Throw them out.”

Hobbes goes over to the Doctor, grabbing his arm. The Doctor struggles, but the effort it costs him is evident in the way he sways as he stands there. 

Jethro hooks his arms around my waist, but thankfully my foot catches on one of the seat bottoms. 

Biff scoffs. “Don’t grab her like that. Are you stupid? Get her by the feet.”

And then my last line of defense is gone. These people are going to throw me out into the x-tonic sunlight. I’ll die instantly, no chance of regeneration. 

“Cast her out. Into the sun.” Sky insists and I echo her words. They’ve moved me so far that I can now see her smug face. “And the night.”

“Get her out!” Val demands. 

“Stop! Don’t do this, please!” The Doctor shouts, struggling against his own restrainers. “Mabel!”

“Do it.” Sky encourages. “Do it now. Faster.”

My eyes are as wide as I can make them go, tears welling up as I stare straight into the Doctor’s eyes. My mouth moves with Sky’s words. 

“Just do it!” Val orders, her voice harsh. 

“That's the way. You can do it. Throw her out.” Sky insists, that snake in their ear. 

“That's Mabel’s voice.” I hear Rakie state. 

“The starlight waits.” Sky continues. “The emptiness. The Midnight sky.”

“It's Sky.” Rakie insists. “She's taken Mabel’s voice!” 

Grabbing Sky and pushing her towards the side door, Rakie pushes the emergency release button. X-tonic sunlight pours into the room, stunning everyone with how bright it is. 

Sky screams, and so do I. 

“One, two, three, four, five, six.” Rakie counts. 

The pressure wall collapses, Rakie and Sky are sucked out of the shuttle The door closes right after, probably some sort of failsafe, and as that happens the two men holding on to me release their grip. 

I crash to the ground, but it’s a welcome feeling after being trapped in one position for so long. The entity has left, it no longer has a strangle hold on my mind. The feeling of the Doctor is a balm to my soul.

Biff reaches for me again, and I full body flinch away. Then the Doctor is there, kneeling next to me. 

“It’s gone.” I murmur, rolling the word around in my mouth. One never really understands the freedom of being able to talk until one can’t talk anymore. “It's gone, it's gone, it's gone, it's gone.”

The Doctor picks me up and moves us to the other side of the shuttle, only stumbling a little, making sure we are away from the other guests. Then he pulls me into his lap, wrapping his arms around me, just breathing with his head pressed against the side of mine. 

“I said it was Sky.” Val states. 

The Doctor makes a noise and sends what I’m going to assume is a truly dangerous look in her direction, because her mouth closes so quickly that you can hear her teeth click together. 

I curl my fingers around the fabric of the Doctor’s suit, the enormity of what almost happened hitting me. For the first time in what feels like a long time, I allow my tears to fall. 

The Doctor doesn’t say anything, just holds me tighter both physically and mentally, letting me cry myself out. 

I’m thankful for it. I’m also so exhausted that I can’t find it in me to care about the fact I’m crying all over his suit. 

The tears eventually stop and I just-I’m not ready to face the world yet. By taking me to the other side of the shuttle, the Doctor created this bubble of privacy that I didn’t want to break. 

“Mabel?” The Doctor murmurs, voice quiet. 

I nod. 

He strokes a hand down my hair. When he speaks next his voice is hesitant in a way that I’m not used to. “Can-Would it be okay if I checked you over?”

“Yes.” My voice is rough from crying, so I pause to clear it. “Yes, please.”

If there is any chance that the thing is still in my head, I want to know. 

The Doctor rests his head against mine once again. To the others it probably looks as though we are comforting each other. And we are to an extent. After having our connection clamped down on like the entity had, the feeling of him encompassing my mind was infinitely reassuring. 

It feels as though his mind expands to cover mine. I sink into the feeling, not resisting when I feel the gentle scan. The Doctor is efficient, but quick. And he pulls back immediately after he’s done. 

“Is it gone?” I whisper, voice so low I can barely hear it myself. 

The Doctor nods, his voice just a low as mine. “It’s just you now.” 

I take a shuddering breath, relieved beyond words. Leaning back, I reach up to touch the streak of blood across his temple. 

The Doctor winces, but allows my inspection. 

“How bad is it?” I murmur. 

“Not bad.” He replies. “It’s already healing.” 

My mouth pulls down at the sides. 

The speaker on the wall crackles and for one horrible second I think the entity is back, but it’s just the rescue vehicle. 

“Crusader Fifty rescue vehicle coming alongside in three minutes. Repeat. Crusader Fifty rescue vehicle coming alongside in three minutes. Door seals set to automatic. Prepare for boarding. Repeat. Prepare for boarding.” The man on the rescue vessel states. 

A flicker of relief fills me, or is it the Doctor’s relief? Either way, we are that much closer to being away from these people. 

The rescue vehicle comes, and we load ourselves on. Then it is only a matter of time until we make it back to the resort. 

We are almost there, only minutes to go, when Val looks up from her side of the room. 

“Look, I’m sorry okay.” She says, tears in her eyes as she looks at me. 

I don’t respond. 

Val frowns at my silence. “Didn’t you hear me? I said I’m sorry.”

“What do you want me to say?” I ask her. The Doctor threads our fingers together, all the while sending me support. 

Hesitating, Val seems to decide to go for it. “When a person apologizes, the other person normally forgives them.”

I laugh, biter and short. “No. I don’t accept your apology.” 

“What?” Biff seems taken aback. 

“I don’t accept your apology for the simple reason that you aren’t apologizing for the right reason.” I continue, ignoring their protests. “You’re not actually sorry that your mob mentality tried to kill the both of us, you’re apologizing because you’re guilty. You want me to absolve you of your guilt.” Looking into her eyes, I let her see how serious I am. “I do not accept your apology.” 

“We were confused, and scared. You can’t blame us for that.” Hobbes argues, immediately on the defensive. 

My head swings over to look at him. “And you. And academic, a Professor even. A man who uses his title to bully those under him.” 

Hobbes frowns at me. “What are you talking about?” 

“You hire her as a researcher but use her to fetch your coffee and carry your things. Any time she tries to say something insightful, or even talk to the same people you talk to, you tell her to be quiet. To not bother people. Less than an hour ago, you told her that she was nothing more than average at best because she was disagreeing with what you all wanted to believe.” I tilt my head, studying his face. “But you’re the one who’s average aren’t you Hobbes?”

“I’m a Professor.” Hobbes replies, but his voice is weak. 

“A Professor, yes, but not a very good one. And this isn’t the first time you’ve done this, is it?” I watch his expression freeze. “You take talented individuals and make them your gophers. Does it make you feel powerful?” 

“This isn’t fair.” Biff interrupts. “You don’t have a right to be saying these things to us.” 

This time I don’t ignore him, instead I give him my full attention. “Ah yes, a lecture on rights from the man who had picked me up and was dragging me across the room to murder me.” 

Biff’s mouth snaps closed. 

“I don’t have anything to say to the three of you. Except maybe one thing.” I wait until they all focus on me. “You all disappoint me.”

The Doctor tugs on my hand. “That’s enough Mabel.” 

I take in their expressions, full of fear and just a hint of guilt, and feel a tendril of shame wiggle it’s way into my stomach. These people are just blundering their way through life like anyone is. I don’t apologize, but I do turn my head from them and focus on the Doctor instead. 

He’s looking at me steadily, eyes clearer than they were. Concussion clearing up, I suppose. The Doctor always has been a fast healer. I was half expecting to find anger, or even disgust, in his eyes at my display but there is nothing like that there. Just a steady devotion, and a sort of alien intelligence that’s become comforting rather than something different. 

“Approaching the resort.” The same man who spoke over the speakers earlier informs us. “Door seals set to automatic. Please prepare for departure.” 

I let out a small sigh of relief, so very grateful to be leaving this shuttle. The Doctor helps me up, making sure we are the first ones to leave. 

Donna is waiting for us on the platform. As soon as she sees me, her expression changes from anxious to compassion. “Oh honey, what happened?” 

I shake my head, throat closing up. “I don’t really want to talk about it.” 

“That’s okay.” Donna pulls me into a hug. I return it as best as I can as the Doctor won’t let my hand go. Though to be completely honest, I don’t want to let go either. Donna pulls back and sends a stern look at the Doctor. “What are you waiting for, you prawn? Go.”

The Doctor rolls his eyes, a hint of a smile lurking around the corners of his lips. “Yes, Donna.” Tugging on our linked hands, he directs me in the direction I’m going to assume the Tards is in. 

To be honest, I wasn’t trying that hard to pay attention. Instead of watching where we were going, I sort of let myself drift. It might have only been a grand total of five hours from start to finish that I’d been here, but I was exhausted, and emotionally raw. 

The Doctor must sense that, because he doesn’t push me. He leads me back to our bedroom and urges me to take a shower while he finishes a couple of things, with a promise to come find me when he’s done. 

And then I was alone. 

After all the noise, even if it was just the background hum of the shuttle, the sound of silence was almost deafening. Even though the Doctor had just left, I feel a sharp pang of longing for him to be here now. 

Well, might as well take that shower. By the time I make it into the bathroom, the shower is already running. Steam swirling through the air as the water beats down. I send a grateful look to the ceiling, which has the Tardis chiming at me, but my first stop is the sink instead. As I thought, my makeup is a hot mess. Trails of eyeliner and mascara run from the corner of my eyes. No wonder Donna had immediately hugged me the second she saw my face. 

I tug my glasses off, and haphazardly place them on the sink which thankfully makes my image go a little out of focus. A quick search through the cupboards yields makeup remover wipes, which I liberally apply to my face, and then I slip out of my dress and finally enter the hot water. 

It feels amazing. As I lather up, I take care to not watch what I’m doing. Biff’s comment is still ringing in my ears, the ‘she’s heavier than she looks’. I’m almost forty. I don’t have the body I used to have anymore and I’m well aware of that. The Doctor’s never complained before, but it doesn’t stop me from being self conscious about the extra padding around my hips and stomach. 

Once finished, and dry, I pull out one of the Doctor’s old jumpers that he wore when he had big ears and wore a leather jacket. It’s absolutely huge on me, but that’s kind of the point. A soft, plain pair of leggings later, and I’m left standing in the middle of the room. 

I don’t really want to stay in here by myself, I’d done enough of that over the last couple of days, so I grab the fluffy blanket that’s draped over the back of the Doctor’s desk chair, swing it over my shoulders, and take off down one of the corridors. 

The aimless wandering does me good, allowing my mind to process what’s happened even as my feet move. I’ve always done better when I had an avenue to channel my thought process into. Eventually, the Tardis leads the Doctor to me. 

He finds me, hair still wet from his own shower and a fresh bandage on the side of his head. Taking in my bulky clothes, and my blanket, I can see him mentally changing tracts. Instead of saying anything, he sweeps me off my feet, blanket and all, and takes off down the corridor. 

I ooph, not expecting that. “Doctor, what are you doing?” 

“I’m taking you somewhere.” He tells me, grinning. It’s not one of his normal grins, but this one feels more real somehow. 

So I curl my head into the crook of his neck, letting him take me wherever he wants to. In this strange world I’ve found myself in, the Doctor has been my one constant. Always there, always by my side unless something went wrong and he couldn’t be. 

A stray thought of Stockholm Syndrome floats into my head, but I mentally push that away. I honestly don’t care what it is, it just is. 

I trust the Doctor. 

He’s the person who’s always looking out for me, younger version aside, and I trust him to take care of me. 

The Doctor leads us to some sort of inside glade. One minute we are in the Tardis corridor, the next we are outside. It has a blanket spread out across the grass, with a picnic basket next to it. The scent of the lush greenery surrounds us, and above us the night sky twinkles, it all feels very real. 

He sets me down gently, arranging the blankets around my form. For the first time I notice the fact that he’s barefoot, a pair of cotton sleep pants and a thin shirt replacing his normal suit and tie. He reaches for the basket, pulling out a couple of hastily made sandwiches and fruit drinks. 

My lips curl up in a smile almost involuntarily as I accept his offerings of the least messy sandwich and an apple juice box. “What’s all this?”

“Well, we didn’t exactly get to go on a date earlier like we’d planned to so I brought the date to you.” The Doctor explains. 

I sigh, reluctantly fond. This isn’t exactly what I wanted to do right now, but he was trying to make me feel better so… My eyes flicker to where I remember blood trickling from his forehead. “How’s the head?” 

“Better.” He says, after swallowing a bite of his sandwich. “I stopped by med bay earlier, but there wasn’t much to fix. My body had already healed most of the damage.” The Doctor gives a pointed look to the untouched sandwich in my hand. “Eat.”

Mechanically, I bring the sandwich up to my mouth and take a bite. It’s peanut butter and jelly, can’t go wrong with that. 

Once I’m finished, the Doctor takes my juice box and sets it aside, maneuvering me and my blanket shield to recline against his chest. 

I take in the night sky, artificially created by the Tardis, and finally start to relax. “Hey, Doctor?” 

The Doctor hums, a questioning tone in the rumble. 

“Why juice boxes?” I ask him. It really was an odd drink choice. 

He laughs, loud and happy. “It was the only thing in the refrigerator, we really need to go shopping.”

Juice boxes with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I tuck the small hope farther down into my chest, for the first time in a long while thinking about our future. If it’s true.. well, I couldn’t say I hadn’t thought about it before. 

The Doctor fishes through the blankets, threading our fingers when he finds my hand and brings it to his lips for a kiss. He lingers there, emotions bright. “Spoilers, dear.” 

Well, I thought to myself as my melancholy mood starts to lift, something to look forward to then.


	17. Halfway out of the dark (A Christmas Carol)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, it's been a crazy long time since I updated. I don't have any excuses for you guys this time. I've missed my deadlines more often than not, so I won't make any future promises. But I will say this, I will always finish a fic, even it it takes a long time. 
> 
> These past months have been a crazy whirlwind. I finished spring semester back in May, but I also started working so I could pay the bills while I wasn't in school. My job has been scheduling me for a crazy amount of hours (It's a luxury cruse liner fleet, that does river cruises so it's kind of crazy hours regardless). For example, last week I worked three doubles, and two normal days. On my days off I didn't really have the motivation to write anything. 
> 
> My job wasn't the only thing stopping me from writing. I started to only be able to write. I couldn't read any other fanfic's without breaking them down into individual sentences instead of just enjoying the story. I got into writing because I wanted a story that I hadn't read before, not to stop enjoying reading fanfics altogether. 
> 
> I'm fine now, but my break helped me be able to do that. 
> 
> But I'm back now. Like I said, no promises on when I'm going to update next, because I still have to update Tilted to the Left at some point before a new chapter comes out on this. 
> 
> Speaking of this story, if you've seen the chapter count, you'll know that this story has only two chapters left. I seem to be incapable of writing a chapter under 10,000 words now, and this story has gotten pretty massive as a result, so I'm breaking up Mabel's story into different installments. This installment will be over in two chapters but there will be another story to follow. I have several loosely planned. And I also have an inkling to write about Mabel's years without the Doctor, when she was with Amy in Leadworth. But, that's all in the future.
> 
> Enjoy this chapter! It's a whopping 20,000 words. Also, sex happens. 
> 
> -RainingCoffee

I stay for a few weeks without jumping. It’s nice, and it allows me to get to know this version of the Doctor better. I’ve never been able to spend any extended amount of time with this him before. 

This Doctor is cheeky. He’s always ready with a quip about something here, or a quip about something there. Even though he’s one of the older Doctor’s I’ve met, he comes off as being very young. It doesn’t help that this face is pretty, either. 

Not that I’m complaining about him being pretty. 

“What are you thinking about over there?” The Doctor asks, startling me out of my thoughts. 

I flush instantly, turning my attention back to the book in front of me. “Nothing.”

He leans over from his chair, teasing smile firmly in place. “Why Mabel, that’s quite the blush for nothing.” 

My flush deepens, but I refuse to let him get to me. “Shut up.” 

He reaches over, clasping my hand in his before pressing a kiss to it. “Not a chance.” 

I roll my eyes, annoyed that I can’t help blushing around this man. “You enjoy making me blush way too much.” 

“Consider it payback.” The Doctor murmurs, amusement brushing up against my mind. 

Humming, I think that over. “I so rarely see you blush, it’ll be interesting to see what you are talking about.” 

He huffs out a breath of air. “And you’ll enjoy it just as much, if not more, than I enjoy making you blush.” 

Our lives are such circular things, how many events had happened because of something he had started from my point of view, but from his point of view I had started? I twine our fingers together, squeezing gently.

The Doctor’s brow furrows in confusion, and a hint of concern. “Mabel?”

“You know the longer I spend with a version of you the harder it is to leave.” I manage, sending him a brave smile. 

“Braveheart Mabel.” He murmurs, pulling me into a hug.

I close my eyes so I don’t have to see him disappear, but it doesn’t stop me from knowing the second I leave. My heads twinges in pain again, but I’m willing to bet this is going to be normal now. 

The next area coalesces around me, I can hear the sounds of the Tardis console room, though my vision still hasn’t caught up. My connection with this Doctor slots into place neatly. The relief it brings is second only to the feeling of joy brushing up against my barrier from my partner. 

My vision has returned by the time pounding footsteps heralds his arrival. The beautiful orange glow and glass floor already told me which version of my future husband I had jumped to, so I’m not surprised by the floppy hair and bow tie that greets me as he rounds the corner. 

“Hello sweetheart.” I smile at him. 

The Doctor pads over to give me a kiss, a brilliant smile forming on his face when he pulls back. “Oh Mabel, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you.” 

Frowning, I tilt my head at him in confusion. “This me, or just me?” 

“Just you.” He murmurs, pulling me into a hug. 

“I’m sorry.” I say, patting him back. “How long has it been? Or it that spoilers?” 

I get hit with a wave of his embarrassment as he tries to smother his face in my shoulder. He mumbles something, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. 

“Try that again.” Pulling back to look at him, I arch an eyebrow. 

The Doctor grumbles, but allows me to see his face. His ears are bright red. “I said it’s been two weeks.” 

Biting back a laugh, I make a noise of sympathy. “Well I’m here now, so..ah..don’t worry about it?”

“Shush you. No laughing at me.” He mutters.

“I’m not laughing at you.” I reply, but my twitching lips are probably a dead giveaway. 

The Doctor rolls his eyes. “Yes, because that isn’t your amusement I’m getting through the connection. Must be a ghost then.”

“Sorry, Sorry.” I mumble, smothering my own face in his shoulder in an attempt to hide my smile. “I was just expecting you to tell me it’s been much longer.”

“I’m not used to being without you for long periods of time anymore.” The Doctor admits reluctantly as he smoothes a hand down my hair. “It’s been centuries since that’s happened for me.” 

“And two weeks is a long time?” I tease, pulling back to look at him. 

He doesn’t answer, not verbally at least, but he does lean down to kiss the smirk off my face. It’s not something I’m going to complain about. 

I’m enjoying the kiss when the Doctor’s hand comes up and strokes a firm line down the side of my neck. My reaction is visceral, a startled moan rising up in response to the pull of heat at my center. 

The Doctor swallows my moan, using it as leverage to deepen our kiss. His hands drop down to my hips and he encourages me to jump. I do, and suddenly I’m sitting on top of the console at the perfect height for him to step into the cradle of my hips. 

I would have happily continued, but the Tardis flashes a mauve light at me. Frowning, I tug on the Doctor’s jacket. He pulls away to take it off, and while the view is much better that wasn’t the point. “No, hun, look.” I tell him, placing a hand against his cheek and directing his vision towards the light. Though I can’t help but slide my other hand under his right suspender, coping a feel so to speak. 

He heaves a sigh, body sagging against mine. 

“I’m going to assume that’s not good.” I murmur, trying to ignore the way my body wants to arch into his heat. 

The Doctor brushes a thumb across my nipple, which is visible even through my sports bra and shirt. “Yes.” He responds, disappointed. “Why do companions always get into trouble?” 

I make a noise of annoyance as his thumb makes another swipe across said nipple. “Stop that.” Great, now I’m turned on and frustrated. 

His lips tick up into a cheeky little smile, even as his thumb makes third pass. I level him with what I hope is an incredibly unimpressed look, though my resulting shiver as he makes a forth pass probably makes it useless. 

Grabbing his hand to stop it, I narrow my eyes at him. “Flashing light, companions in danger.”

“Hmm, yes.” The Doctor murmurs. His hand slides around my neck, thumb digging into the hollow there, making me lose my train of thought. My thought focus on the hand at my breast and the wet heat of his mouth against mine.

He pulls away, but I make a noise of confusion, of want, arching my body towards his for more contact. 

The Doctor’s eye’s go dark at the sight, a murmur of appreciation rising to his lips even as he shakes his head. “Can’t right now, companions in danger.”

“What?” I frown, trying to concentrate. 

“Oh, look at that.” The Doctor exclaims, darting to the other side of the console. “A mauve light! That’s not good.”

I blink at him. “You-“

“There’s no time for this Mabel, the Ponds are in trouble.” He states. Maybe I would have believed him if his side of the connection wasn’t humming with mischief. 

It finally clicks, what he’s just done. “Are you serious?”

The Doctor’s lips twitch, a hint of a smile breaking through his stoic expression.

“I can’t believe you just did that!” My incredulity turns to amusement, and before I know it I’m laughing. 

My good mood last until the rotor skips. The Doctor frowns, pressing a couple of buttons before trying again. Same reaction. 

“What’s the matter?” I move to stand beside him, watching as his frown grows. There is a stream of Gallifreyan trailing across the monitor, for all the good it does me. 

“I can’t get a lock on.” The Doctor mutters. “There’s to much interference, the Tardis can’t land.” 

I frown now, trying to understand. “…which would be where Amy and Rory are located?” 

He sends me a confused look, before realization blooms across his face. “Oh, you wouldn’t know, would you? We gave them a week long cruise on a luxury starliner for their honeymoon.”

“Honeymoon? They finally got married?” I light up, leaning against his arm. 

“Yes, Mabel.” The Doctor sends me an indulgent look. “Now focus. Companions in danger, not able to land.” 

Shaking my head to clear it, I hum in understanding. “What’s interfering?”

He presses a few more buttons, watching the information flow past. “It seems to be a storm, the ship got caught in the gravity of the planet and now it can’t escape the storm.”

I hum, contemplative. “And the storm is interfering with our ability to land on the ship, but what about the planet? Can we land on the planet?” 

A few more buttons are pressed. “Yes, that should be possible. Just let me-“ He cuts himself off, running over to the keyboard and typing something in before rushing back. “Just had to send a message before we landed. Didn’t want the Ponds to think we’d forgotten about them.” 

The Tardis starts to materialize, and though it’s choppier than usual, the sequence finishes like normal. 

Slipping his jacket back on, the Doctor is halfway to the door before he stops abruptly and starts rummaging through his pockets. 

I raise an eyebrow at the display. “What are you looking for?” 

“This!” He exclaims, pulling my sonic screwdriver from his pocket. 

“Ohh.” I’m breathe, excited. Well, excited until I remember that I didn’t get the sonic linearly for him a long time in his future. “Wait, how did you get that?”

The Doctor rolls his eyes even as he all but shoves the screwdriver into my hand. “You have a bad habit of leaving things in your pockets when it’s time to throw them in the wash. I’ve started to just hand it off to whatever version of you I see next that doesn’t have one.” 

Huh, and judging by the faint differences I can see he does more than retrieve it from my clothing. Or maybe I do something with it, who knows. I shake off those thoughts, smiling over at him even as we walk through the door onto the planet. “Thanks h-Woah.” 

“Woah is right.” The Doctor murmurs. He’s looking at the same thing I am, a stream of light spiraling up into the sky coming from the top of the building we had materialized on. 

I’m scanning the roof for..i don’t even know at this point when the Doctor turns around and grins at me like a little boy. 

“It’s Christmas.” He states, his whole face lighting up in excitement. 

“Okay.” I respond, drawing the word out in my confusion. 

“It’s Christmas, and there’s a building with a beam of light shooting out of the top of it into the clouds.” The Doctor reiterates. “It’s Christmas, and the building with a beam of light shooting out of it into the sky controlling the clouds has a chimney.”

To my credit, I understand what he’s trying to say immediately. “Seriously? You’re not Santa Claus.” 

His expression falls into a pout. “But Mabel, it’d be fun!”

“I never said you couldn’t do it.” I tell him, voice dry, as I cross my arms. “Just know you’re going to get incredibly ashy.” 

The Doctor seems to take that as permission, because it only takes him a few seconds to cross the rooftop to get to the chimney. Rolling my eyes, I head over to the ladder that I noticed when we first came out onto the roof. 

A quick glance shows that the Doctor has already made his way down the chimney, radiating far more glee than he probably should be at the moment, so I hurry my pace. It takes me a few minutes to figure out how to get inside, but a judicious use of my sonic gives me an opening through the window. 

The chimney was located near the back corner of the building, so I head down the stairs. I know I’m heading in the right direction when I’m able to hear the Doctor’s voice, rambling on about something as usual. 

“- Christmas, Frank Sinatra's hunting lodge, 1952. See him at the back with the blonde? Albert Einstein. The three of us together. Brrm. Watch out. Okay? Keep the faith. Stay off the naughty list.”

I push open the large doors directly in front of me, catching the attention of everyone in the room. The Doctor is there, of course, but there is also an old man dressed in nice clothing. There is another man, with his two children and an older woman all standing next to one another. A family unit, maybe? I’m guessing at this point. And to top it all off there is a tall cylinder with what looks to be a woman inside. 

“You’re late!” The Doctor calls out. 

I tsk at him. “Just because I didn’t go down the chimney with you doesn’t mean I’m late.” Crossing the room, I try wiping off some of the soot that’s managed to get on his jacket. He puts up with my ministrations with a fond look of patience. “I told you that you were going to get sooty, and this jacket is always so difficult to wash too.”

“And just who are you?” The old man demands. 

“Mabel.” I answer him, distracted. There is a corner of the room that has all sorts of flashing lights on some sort of repurposed organ, half hidden by curtains. “Now that looks promising.” 

“Doesn’t it?” The Doctor asks rhetorically, rushing over to get a better look at the device. “Now, what's this then? I love this. A big flashy lighty thing. That's what brought me here. Big flashy lighty things have got me written all over them.” There is a spinny chair in front of the device which the Doctor decides to sit down in, spinning around to give the old man a not so pleasant smile. “Now, this big flashy lighty thing is connected to the spire in your dome, yeah? And it controls the sky. Well, technically it controls the clouds, which technically aren't clouds at all. Well, they're clouds of tiny particles of ice. Ice clouds. Love that.”

“Ice clouds, and frozen people.” I point at the woman in the cylinder. “Who’s she?”

“Nobody important.” The old man dismisses me. 

The Doctor gets up from his chair, moving to stand in front of the cylinder himself before he turns to give the old man a neutral look. Well it’s a neutral look, but I have an inside connection to his head so I can tell that he’s not exactly the happiest person right now. “Nobody important. Blimey, that's amazing. Do you know, in nine hundred years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't important before.”

I ignore his posturing, not interested in small talk at the moment. “Are you sure this controls the ice clouds?” 

The Doctor nods, rushing back over to the console and pushing buttons as he does so. “I’d eat my hat if it isn’t. Er, if I had a hat. I'll eat someone's hat. Not someone who's using their hat. I don't want to shock a nun, or something.” His irritation starts to spill over into the connection. “Sorry, rambling, because, because this isn't working!”

The old man has a look on his face, like he doesn’t quite believe what’s happening. “The controls are isomorphic. One to one. They respond only to me.”

Scoffing, the Doctor turns to give him a look of disbelief. “Oh, you fibber. Isomorphic. There's no such thing.”

Walking forward, the old man reaches around the Doctor, powering down the machine. He waits a beat before powering it back up and giving the Doctor a look that very clearly says ‘There.’

The Doctor presses the same button and nothing happens. The irritation very quickly turns to frustration as he tries a few more buttons and still nothing happens. He pulls his screwdriver out, scanning first the control and then the old man. 

“These controls are isomorphic.” The Doctor states, turning to look at me. Just a hint of embarrassment sneaks through. 

With a bit of effort, I don’t call him out on it. 

“The skies of this entire world are mine.” The old man says, looking like he’s grown bored with the conversation. “My family tamed them, and now I own them.”

“Tamed the sky? What does that mean?” The Doctor asks, his focus sharpening. 

The old man rolls his eyes, turning his back on the Doctor and walking away from the machine. “It means I'm Kazran Sardick. How can you possibly not know who I am?”

There is a spike in the Doctor’s temper, which probably contributes to his response of, “Well, just easily bored, I suppose.” 

“Regardless, we need your help.” I chime in, confused at his uncharacteristic irritation. I’m not exactly sure what happened before I got here to make the Doctor react like this, but it’s strange. I’m worried about Amy and Rory as well, but now isn’t the time for confrontation. 

Kazran brushes me off once again. “Make an appointment.”

“There are four thousand and three people in a spaceship trapped in your cloud belt.” The Doctor tells Kazran, voice serious. “Without your help, they're going to die.”

“Yes.” Kazran nods, not a care on his face. 

“You can stop that from happening.” I narrow my eyes at him. 

“I know, but I'm not going to.” Kazran tells me, flippant. “Bye, bye. Bored now. Chuck.” 

His servants come over and grab us by the arms. The Doctor breaks their hold easily, going to stand by the chair Kazran has taken a seat in. 

“Ooo, look at you, looking all tough now.” Kazran scoffs, dismissive. 

“There are four thousand and three people I won't allow to die tonight. Do you know where that puts you?” The Doctor tilts his head to the side. 

Kazran looks up, not impressed. “Where?”

The Doctor’s voice is soft when he responds, as if the words aren’t completely serious. “Four thousand and four.”

“Was that a sort of threat-y thing?” Kazran asks, shaking his hand back and forth. It’s clear he’s not listening properly. 

Helped on by the Doctor’s own irritation and frustration, my own temper flares. “That’s not a threat Kazran Sardick. It’s a promise.”

“And remember, whatever happens tonight, remember you brought it on yourself.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“Yeah, yeah, right. Get him out of here.” Kazran orders, and my restrainers tug me along. The family being bustled out as well. “And next time, try and find me some funny poor people.”

The boy shakes off the person holding him, grabbing a piece of coal and pelting the back of Kazran’s head with it. I see Kazran get up, rushing the boy, and before I know it the person who had been holding me is on the floor. I’m also several feet away from where I started, staring at the hand the Kazran raised to hit the boy. 

He hadn’t gone through with the strike. 

People are protesting, Kazran is snarling something to his servants. They continue pulling the family away, but the Doctor and I are left alone now. 

“What?” Kazran asks, defensive now. “What do you want?”

“A simple life.” The Doctor replies simply, the liar, before taking a step towards Kazran. “But you didn't hit the boy.”

“Well, I will next time.” Kazran spits, raising his voice like the family can still hear him. 

I shake my head. “No, I don’t think you will.” Looking around, I take in how bare this place is. It’s Christmas, but there isn’t any decorations. The place is desolate and lonely. “Kazran Sardick, this is a rather large house for one person.”

“Of course.” The Doctor breathes out. “The chairs. Stupid me, the chairs.”

“The chairs?” Kazran asks, looking seconds away from kicking us out. 

“There's a portrait on the wall behind me. Looks like you, but it's too old, so it's your father. All the chairs are angled away from it. Daddy's been dead for twenty years, but you still can't get comfortable where he can see you.” The Doctor explains. “There's a Christmas tree in the painting, but none in this house, on Christmas Eve. You're scared of him, and you're scared of being like him, and good for you, you're not like him, not really. Do you know why?” He finishes, taking a step towards Kazran. 

Kazran looks taken aback. When he speaks, his voice is soft, childlike. “Why?”

The Doctor looks at him. Just looks. “Because you didn't hit the boy. Merry Christmas, Mister Sardick.” 

“I despise Christmas.” Kazran snarls, breaking the moment.

“You shouldn’t.” The Doctor replies, taking a step towards the door. I follow him. “It’s very you.” 

Kazran shakes his head, looking confused again. His mood swings are giving me vertigo. “It's what? What do you mean?”

The Doctor doesn’t respond and neither do I. I follow him from the room, hoping he has a plan. 

“You do have a plan, right?” I ask as soon as we are out of earshot. 

“Yes, of course I have a plan.” He answers, far to quickly. I send him a look. “Well, it’s sort of a plan. I’m working on it.” 

I send him another look. “This plan of yours doesn’t happen to be wait until I come up with a plan, would it?” 

“Er, no.” The Doctor replies, entirely unconvincing. 

Well that’s just great. Hmm, though it does make my head start racing with ideas. “I don’t have anything for that yet, but we should probably contact Amy and Rory and let them know what’s going on.” 

He hums in agreement, rummaging around in his pockets before throwing whatever he found in them to me. It’s a phone, well maybe it’s a phone. It sort of looks like one. 

The Doctor sends me a hint of his amusement, even though he’s still rummaging around in his pockets. “Just put it up to your ear and think.”

I do as he says, and a ringtone greets me. It only rings for a few seconds before Amy’s stressed voice comes over the receiver. 

‘Doctor!” She calls, tone sharp.

“Not quite, It’s Mabel.” I reply, not able to control the twitch of my lips into a half smile. She sounds so annoyed with him right now. 

Amy lets out what sounds to be a breath of relief? ‘Oh thank god, it’s so very good to hear your voice Mabel. Have you figured out a way to get us off this thing yet?’

“No, not yet. But we did find the machine that controls the clouds.” I tell her, trying to keep the negative emotions out of my voice. 

‘That’s good, why haven’t you turned it off yet?’ She asks, clearly annoyed. 

“Well.” I frown, not able to help myself. “The controls on the machine only answer to one person, and he’s not cooperating.” 

Amy sighs. ‘Was the Doctor being _extra _charming?’__

____

____

“Only in reaction to Kazran’s sour attitude.” I tell her, unable to control the smile hovering around my lips with the addition of the Doctor’s insulted ‘OI!’ coming from behind me. 

I watch as the family that had been in the room with us earlier comes up to the Doctor, thanking him. 

“So anyways, that’s what we’ve got so far. Sorry I couldn’t give you more.” The man is shaking the Doctor’s hand now, and for some reason the Doctor is feeling as confused as I’ve ever felt him be.

‘Don’t apologize, at least you don’t sugar coat it.’ Amy mutters. ‘If I would have been on the phone with the Doctor we would have just spent an extra minute where he tried to walk around the issue instead of addressing it.’

My answering laugh is interrupted when the Doctor grabs my arm and pulls me towards a streetlight. “Hey! What’re you doing?”

“Mabel, look.” He breathes out, a brilliant smile forming on his face. “Fish in the fog.” 

“What ar-oh, wow.” I look up at the little fish in awe. “Now that’s not something you see everyday.”

‘Mabel, please focus.’ Amy’s voice is back to being stressed, so I do my best to pay attention. ‘The Captain says we’ve got less than an hour.’

“Now, why would people be frightened of you tiny little fellows? Look at you, sweet little fishy-wishies.” The Doctor coos, before abruptly pulling back. “Mind you, fish in the fog, so the cloud cover. Ooo.” He leans in so Amy will be able to hear him. “Careful up there.”

‘Oh great, thanks, Doctor, because there was a real danger we were all going to nod off. We've got less than an hour!’ Amy snaps. 

The Doctor takes the phone from me, frowning. “I know Amy.”

Speakers that I hadn’t known were there crackle and then start crooning out a carol. 

‘Doctor?’ Amy asks, voice almost inaudible now that I’m not holding the receiver up to my ear. ‘How are you getting us off here?’

“Oh, just give me a minute. Can't use the Tardis, because it can't lock on. So, that ship needs to land. But it can't land unless a very bad man suddenly decides to turn nice just in time for Christmas Day.” The Doctor reiterates. 

Amy says something, but the music is so loud I can’t hear what she’s saying anymore. 

The Doctor replies, distracted. “A Christmas carol.” 

Something in what he just said resonates with me. “Wait, what?”

“It’s a Christmas carol.” He says again, flicking confused eyes in my direction. 

Amy says something again, and this time when the doctor says it, there’s some oomph behind it. “A Christmas carol!”

Wait.

No, it can’t be that easy. 

“Kazran Sardick.” The Doctor breathes, starting to smile. “Merry Christmas, Kazran Sardick.”

“No, we are not doing that.” I tell him. 

“Why not? It would work.” He shoots back, pout already forming. 

I shake my head at him. “It could work, emphasis on could. Besides all that, I thought there were rules? Even if we do Christmas Carol him, he would have had to be the grumpy old man he is in the first place for us to have thought about going back to change him.”

“Er.” The Doctor scratches his head. “Just don’t think about it too hard?” 

Giving him my most unimpressed look, I wait. 

He fidgets, looking uncomfortable. “Okay, it has a lot to do with wibbly, wobbily stuff.” 

“So, basically it’ll work but we shouldn’t do it all the time?” I offer, not exactly willing to let him off the hook but throwing an olive branch nonetheless. 

“Yes!” The Doctor looks relieved. “We will remember because we were already part of established events, and he’ll remember both lives. The only thing we need to do is change him enough that he’d be willing to turn off the machine and presto.” He waves his fingers around, feeling smug. 

I sigh, not feeling his enthusiasm. “Is this really the best way to fix this? I don’t feel right just up and leaving when Amy and Rory are trapped up there.” 

He leans in, emotions losing the false enthusiasm and settling into something more solemn. “You heard how stubborn he was, doing it like this might just be for the best. And this way we will have time to gather more information on how the cloud system works.” One of his fingers comes up and taps against his lip as he works through what he wants to say. “In the end, we might not even need to use Kazran Sardick to turn off the machine if I get enough data.” 

There is logic in his explanation, but- “I still don’t like it.” 

“I promise, that we will do everything in our power to save our wayward companions.” The Doctor tells me, voice gentle. 

Closing my eyes against the sincerity in his voice, I incline my head in agreement. “Okay. Let’s go change this man’s entire life to suit our own needs.”

He grumbles as I turn on my heels, padding after me as I make my way back into the mansion. “When you put it that way it makes it seem worse somehow.” 

Pausing my steps for him to catch up to me, I thread our hands together and give him an indulgent look. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Yes, I didn’t think you would.” The Doctor says, a supremely unimpressed look on his face. 

It’s almost enough to make me crack a real smile in return but I resist the urge. 

“Alright troublemaker,” he murmurs, tugging on my hand. “Let’s get to the Tardis.” 

I stick my tongue out at him, getting a tongue in return and before I know it we are giggling in a side alley behind a shady mansion belonging to a guy who is going to let all those people die because he feels like it. 

The last thought is a sobering one. 

“Yeah.” The Doctor murmurs, the laughter fading from his face as well. 

Time to get to work. 

xxxx

It doesn’t take long to find an entry point. A scan for anything useful highlights an old computer/recording device. The device isn’t compatible with our projector, but the Doctor does something clever with a paperclip and his screwdriver, somehow getting it to work. 

A peek at the footage shows Kazran as a child. I guess it’d be easier to influence him then, especially if we have footage to show off the changes. 

Then, all that’s left is to set it up. 

Kazran Sardick is asleep in that cold, lonely room, making it easy to slip in the necessary equipment. I pull out my sonic, a short pulse all that’s needed to turn the machine on, and then we wait. 

Well, the Doctor pulls me into a corner behind Kazran to wait, but it’s the same difference. 

A recording of little Kazran flickers to life. It’s in black and white and white, covering most of the far wall, doorway included. 

_‘Hello, my name is Kazran Sardick. I'm twelve and a half, and this is my bedroom.’ The boy on screen shifts in excitement, looking at the window behind him before turning back to the camera and leaning in. ‘This is my top secret special project. For my eyes only. Merry Christmas.’ ___

____

____

_‘Kazran!’ An angry male voice calls from off screen._

____

____

_Little Kazran immediately recoils, sitting back in his seat and looking at his desk in dread. ___

____

____

Kazran Sardick, the man sleeping in the chair in front of us, jolts upright in his chair, wide awake. 

_A man comes in, clearly Kazran’s father. ‘Kazran, what are you doing?’ He growls, coming over to the boy and looking straight into the camera. Sardick, the grown man, climbs out of his chair and backs up as far away from the film as he can. ‘What are you doing? I've warned you before about this, you stupid, ignorant, ridiculous child.’ ___

____

____

Oh no.

I hadn’t watched the whole thing. 

All I had done was make sure it had a Kazran around the right age for us to make any sort of changes, but I hadn’t thought to watch the whole thing. 

_‘I was just going to make a film of the fish.’ Little Kazran tells his father, not quite looking him in the eye. ___

____

____

_‘The fish are dangerous.’ Kazran’s father growls._

____

____

_Kazran looks up, making eye contact for the first time since the man came in. ‘I just want to see them.’ ___

____

____

_‘Don't be stupid.’ The man scoffs. ‘You're far too young.’ ___

____

____

_Kazran hesitates, looking as if he knows he shouldn’t continue but he decides to anyways. ‘Everyone at school's seen the fish.’ ___

____

____

_The man looks away, off at something in the bedroom. It looks as if he’s grown bored with the conversation. ‘That's enough. You'll be singing to them next, like gypsies.’ ___

____

____

_‘The singing works.’ Kazran tells him, his whole face lighting up. ‘I've seen it. The fish like the singing.’ ___

____

____

_‘What does it matter what fish like?’ The man narrows his eyes at Kazran._

____

____

_Kazran doesn’t seem to see the danger anymore. He’s too excited by talk of the fish. ‘People say we don't have to be afraid of the fish. They're not really interested in us.’ ___

____

____

_‘You don't listen to people. You listen to me.’ The man snarls, angry, his arm raising up in preparation._

____

____

Fingers curl around my arm, holding me in place, but I don’t really notice them, to focused on the screen.

_The man follows through with his strike, in a way that the Kazran Sardick of the future hadn’t been able to and something in me goes cold. Despite the shitbag of a man he seems to have become, that there on the screen is still just a child._

____

____

_‘I’m sorry father.’ Little Kazran sobs, putting his head down on his arms._

____

____

The Doctor brushes our shoulders together, probably in a show of comfort, but I take a step away from him. 

I don’t want to be comforted right now. Right now, I want to go teach that man a lesson. 

_‘This is my house.’ Kazran’s father states. ‘While you're under my roof, you'll obey my instructions. I don't care what you-‘ ___

____

____

The Doctor moves, touching the Kazran Sardick if the present’s shoulder. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

He jumps, looking at the two of us like he’s never seen us. “What have you done? What is this?”

“We found it on an old drive.” The Doctor explains. “Sorry about the picture quality. Had to recover the data using quantum enfolding and a paperclip.”

Sardick moves with purpose to the bells in the corner. 

The Doctor is unconcerned, picking up a newspaper and sitting down in the only chair in the room. “Oh, I wouldn't bother calling your servants. They quit. Apparently, they won the lottery at exactly the same time, which is a bit lucky when you think about it.”

“There isn't a lottery.” Sardick states, expression souring even further. 

“Yeah, that’s why it’s a bit lucky now isn’t it?” I speak up, my smile sharp enough to cut. 

On the screen behind us, the recording is still going. 

_‘There's a fog warning tonight. You keep these windows closed, understand? Closed.’ Sardick’s father warns him._

____

____

Sardick looks back and forth between us. “Who are the both of you?”

The Doctor jumps up from the chair, stepping up to Sardick until their faces are uncomfortably close. “Tonight, well, we’re the ghost of Christmas past.” 

_‘Mrs Mantovani will be looking after you tonight.’ Sardick’s father continues. ‘You stay here till she comes. Do you understand? Do you understand?’ ___

____

____

“Did you ever get to see a fish, back then, when you were a kid?” The Doctor asks, finally moving away. 

“What does that matter to you?” Sardick shakes his head tiredly. 

“It mattered to you, at one point.” I murmur, watching his expression. 

Sardick falters for a second, before bringing his mask around him like a shield. “I cried all night, and I learned life's most invaluable lesson.” 

The Doctor steps around Sardick to better look at the projector. “Ah. Which is?”

“Nobody comes.” Sardick says bitterly. “Get out! Get out of my house!”

“You know, at first I wasn’t to sure about this.” I tell Sardick, even as the Doctor and I back up towards the door. “But after seeing that video, now we have a real reason to act.” 

“What are you talking about?” Sardick spits, starting to advance on us. 

The Doctor opens the door behind us, whipping around the corner to enter the Tardis which we had moved for this very reason. 

I, on the other hand, can’t help but put in one last remark. “A crying child is always a reason to act. We’re going back, Kazran Sardick, back to help the you the needed it the most.” And in the process, hopefully help our friends.

Poking his head back around the corner, the Doctor gives Sardick a bright smile. “Just keep watching!” 

And then we are in the Tardis, the ship making its way back to the child in the video. Though there is a pit stop to take care of the nanny situation, we promptly materialize outside Kazran’s window on the balcony. 

The Doctor pushes the window open, smirking at the recording device. “See? Back.” 

Oh how I wish I could see what the look on future Kazran Sardicks’s face is at this moment. 

“Who are you?” Kazran asks, wiping the tears from his face in a hurry. 

“Hi. I'm the Doctor, this is Mabel.” The Doctor explains, rushing forward to start jumping on the bed. “We’re your new babysitters.” 

I wave at little Kazran, entering the room with less energy than the Doctor. 

Kazran clearly doesn’t know what to do with two strangers in his bedroom, looking between us in bewilderment. “But, where’s Mrs. Mantovani?” 

“Ah, she won the lottery.” I offer, giving the Doctor a look until he stops jumping on the bed. He huffs, sitting down with his legs hanging off the side instead. 

“There isn’t any lottery.” Kazran states with confidence. 

“I know.” The Doctor looks up from his sulk, smiling at the boy. “What a woman.”

Kazran frowns, clearly not buying our story. It’s a wonder he’s not called for help yet. “If you're my babysitters, why did you climb in the window?”

“Because if we were climbing out of the window, we’d be going in the wrong direction.” The Doctor points at Kazran, voice gaining an edge. “Pay attention.”

“But Mrs Mantovani's always my babysitter.” Kazran tells the Doctor, leaning away from the finger in his face. 

“Thing change Kazran Sardick.” I murmur, looking directly into the recording device. “I think you’ll be experiencing them by now.” 

The Doctor leans over until his face is right in the camera. “See? Christmas past.” 

Kazran gives the both of us a look, as if he thinks we are not all there. “Who are you talking to?”

“You.” The Doctor replies, still close to the camera. “Now, your past is going to change. That means your memories will too. Bit scary, but you'll get the hang of it.”

“I don't understand.” Kazran tells us. 

The Doctor leans back away from the camera, patting little Kazran on the head while giving him a smile. “I'll bet you don't. I wish I could see your face.”

Kazran pulls away, disgruntled. 

“Right then, your bedroom.” The Doctor claps in feigned delight, going to sit on the bed once again. “Great. Let's see. You're twelve years old, so we'll stay away from under the bed.” He gets up, rushing over to the closet on the other side of the room. “Cupboard! Big cupboard. I love a cupboard.”

The Doctor opens the closet, pausing with his head inside. “Do you know, there's a thing called a face spider. It's just like a tiny baby's head with spider legs, and it's specifically evolved to scuttle up the backs of bedroom cupboards-“

I cough loudly, interrupting his speech. Kazran leans back in alarm. 

He turns to grimace at me. “Which, yeah, I probably shouldn't have mentioned. Right. So. What are we going to do? Eat crisps and talk about girls? I've never actually done that, but I bet it's easy.” The Doctor waves his hands around. “Girls? Yeah?”

“Are you sure you’re married?” I ask him, annoyed with the fake enthusiasm among other things. 

The Doctor smirks at me, a 180 from his previous behavior. “Spoilers dear.” 

“Are you really babysitters?” Kazran finally comes out and asks. 

“I used to take care of several children, I have practice at this.” I tell him. 

“And I think you'll find I'm universally recognized as a mature and responsible adult.” The Doctor continues, pulling out his psychic paper and brandishing it in front of Kazran. 

Kazran frowns at the paper. “It's just a lot of wavy lines.”

The Doctor pulls it back to examine it, a frown of his own at whatever he sees. “Yeah, it's shorted out. Finally, a lie too big.” He puts the paper back into his pocket, kneeling down next to the boy. “Okay, no, not really a babysitter, but it's Christmas Eve. You don't want a real one. You want us.”

“Why?” Kazran shakes his head. “What's so special about the two of you?”

“Nothing.” I shrug as the boy focusses on me. “But I bet we’re a lot better than Mrs. Mantovani could ever be.” 

Kazran makes a face like he hasn’t decided yet, but he doesn’t get a chance to say anything about it. The Doctor has already moved on, frowning at the fog outside of the window we used to enter the room. “Fish in the fog. Fish in the clouds.” He turns around, focusing on the boy. The light from outside, coupled with the fog gives his face an eerie glow. “How do people ever get bored? How did boredom even get invented?”

For the first time, Kazran gets up out of his chair, walking towards us. “My dad's invented a machine to control the cloud belt. Tame the sky, he says. The fish'll be able to come down, but only when we let them. We can charge whatever we like.”

“Yeah, we’ve seen your dad’s machine.” I say, not able to keep all the bitterness out of my voice. The Doctor places a calming hand on my shoulder and I take a deep breath in response. 

“What?” Kazran scoffs, missing our interaction. “You can't have.”

“Tame the sky. Human beings.” The Doctor shakes his head. “You always manage to find the boring alternative, don't you?” He focusses on the boy. “You want to see one? A fish. We can do that. We can see a fish.”

Kazran looks pleased for a brief second, before his expression flickers into a reluctant disappointment. “Aren't you going to tell me it's dangerous?”

“Dangerous?” The Doctor scoffs. “Come on, we're boys. And you know what boys say in the face of danger.”

“What?” Kazran asks, confused with the rapid conversation shifts. 

The Doctor looks over at me, and I get a flash of his mischief. “Mummy.”

I roll my eyes. “Anyways, any ideas on how to see a fish. Do we just wait?” 

“Hmm, I have a better idea than wait.” The Doctor murmurs. He then proceeds to set up his screwdriver as a sort of lure. It even has a piece of string connected to it, so we will know if any fish are ‘biting’ so to speak. 

The only downside is that our hiding spot is in the closet. It’s cramped, but manageable. Sort of. 

“Are there any face spiders in here?” Kazran whispers, huddled between the two of us. 

“No, I think we’re safe for tonight.” I murmur back, giving the Doctor another dirty look. 

The Doctor grimaces again, finger on the end of the string, waiting for any sign of a fish out in the main room. “Sorry. Anyways, why are you interested in the fish?”

Kazran hugs his knees to his chest. “Because they're scary.”

“Good answer.” The Doctor murmurs. 

“What kind of tie is that?” Kazran redirects the conversation. I lean forward a bit to see him pointing at the Doctor’s bowtie. 

The Doctor straightens it with his free hand. “A cool one.” 

Kazran tilts his head in confusion. “Why is it cool?”

It isn’t, not really. But it is very Doctorish, and that’s cool I suppose. I can feel an epic ramble coming on, so I interrupt it before it can get started. “Kazran, why are you really interested in the fish?” 

The boy ducks his head. “My school. During the last fog belt, the nets broke and there was an attack. Loads of them. A whole shoal. No one was hurt, but it was the most fish ever seen below the mountains.”

The Doctor tilts his head in Kazran’s direction. “Were you scared?”

The boy shakes his head. “I wasn't there. I was off sick.”

“Ooo, lucky you.” The Doctor states, his face turning concerned when Kazran just ducks his head again. “Not lucky?”

“It's all anyone ever talks about now. The day the fish came. Everyone's got a story.” Kazran tells us, voice sad. 

“But not you.” I finish for him. 

The Doctor looks towards the recording device, pensive. “I see.” 

Kazran looks up from his legs, clearly wanting to change the subject. “Why are you recording this?” 

The line wrapped around the Doctor’s finger moves, jerking his hand back a bit. Looks like we finally have a bite, and a story for Kazran to tell. 

“Do you pay attention at school, Kazran?” The Doctor asks. 

“Sorry, what?” Kazran frowns up at him. 

The Doctor gives him a look, nodding to the string that’s still jerking sporadically. “Because you're not paying attention now.”

Kazran goes to say something, but the Doctor puts his free hand up to his lips, shushing the boy. He falls obediently silent, but his excitement is evident. When the Doctor goes to open the closet, it seems he can’t help himself though. “Doctor, are you sure?” Kazran whispers. 

“Trust me.” He looks at Kazran, radiating confidence. 

“Okay.” Kazran mutter, looking disheartened. 

“Oi.” The Doctor says, tilting his head as Kazran focusses on him once again. “Eyes on the tie. Look at me. I wear it and I don't care. Just, trust me.”

The boy lights up, expression opening. It’s clear that whatever preconceived notion Kazran might have had before, he’s willing to put trust in the man before him. 

The Doctor eyes flicker over to me a hint of a smirk touching his face, before directing his attention to the recorder. “That's why it's cool.”

Heh. 

What a ridiculous man. 

Carefully opening the closet door, he makes his way outside of the room. I pull Kazran back a bit, concerned about having him so close to the door in question. 

“Hello, fishy. Let's see. Interesting. Crystalline fog, eh?” The Doctor’s voice carries through the door easily. “Maybe carrying a tiny electrical charge. Is that how you fly, little fishy?”

“What’s going on?” Kazran leans into me, looking intently at the door.

“It sounds like there is a fish out there.” I raise my voice slightly. “What do you think sweetheart, is it good to come out?”

“Just stay there a moment.” Is his distracted reply. “So, little fellow, what do you eat?”

I’m shaking my head regretfully at Kazran, about to tell him to wait for a minute when a surge of alarm jolts through our connection. “Doctor?”

“What’s the matter?” Kazran ask me. 

“Er.” The Doctor hesitates. 

“Somethings happened, but I don’t think it was a good thing.” I tell Kazran, before directing my attention back to the door. “I’m coming out!”

“No, no. Maybe just wait there for a moment.” The Doctor replies hastily, his caution and fear a reminder that something is going wrong. 

I frown at the door. 

“Is there a big fish out there?” Kazran asks, leaning closer to the door. 

The Doctor rushes into the cupboard, closing the door behind himself and bracing for the impact that rocks the door right after it closes. 

Kazran looks confused, and a little alarmed. “What's happening?”

“Well, concentrating on the plusses, you've definitely got a story of your own now.” The Doctor braces as something hits the door again. “Also, I got a good look at the fish, and I think I understand how the fog works, which is going to help me land a spaceship in the future and save a lot of lives.” 

He hesitates then, grimacing in my direction. “And, I should get some interesting readings off my sonic screwdriver when I get it back from the shark in Kazran’s bedroom.” 

“There's a shark in my bedroom?” – “There’s a shark in his bedroom?!”

“Oh fine, focus on that part!” The Doctor huffs, wilting under our combined looks. 

There’s another bang on the door, and then quiet. 

“Has it gone?” Kazran’s eyes flicker between the two of us and I have to stop him from leaning closer to the door once again. “What's it doing?”

The Doctor grimaces, taking a step away from the door. “What do you call it if you don't have any feet, and you're taking a run-up?” 

The words have barely left his mouth when they seem to register, and he throws his body against ours, pushing us as far back into the closet as is possible. 

The shark smashes through the door and for one heart stopping moment, I think that’s it. No more, we’re done for. This is how it ends, in a child’s bedroom closet eaten by a shark. 

But that doesn’t seem to happen. The Shark is struggling, arching this way and that way but it’s not getting any closer to us.

“It's going to eat us. It's going to eat us. It's going to eat us.” Kazran keeps panicking as books from the top of the closet fall down on top of us. “Is it going to eat us?”

“Well, maybe we're going to eat it, but I don't like the odds. It's stuck, though. Let's see. Tiny shark brain. If I had my screwdriver, I could probably send a pulse and stun it.” The Doctor rambles. 

“Well, where's your screwdriver?” Kazran demands, voice this close to cracking. 

“Well-“ The Doctor drags out. “Concentrating on the plusses, within reach. You know, there's a real chance the way it's wedged in the doorway is keeping its mouth open.”

“Oh, you absolutely ridiculous man!” I can’t help but bite out, annoyed with him for even thinking about putting his arm in the shark’s mouth. 

He gives me one of those ‘you got any better ideas’ looks that I’ve come to recognize. 

I give him my best, ‘you’re a moron’ look in response. “Yes, as a matter of fact I do have a better idea.” 

Pulling out the screwdriver that the Doctor gave me less than an hour ago, I point it at the shark and ignore the look of comprehension that crosses the Doctors face. 

Sleep

And it somehow, miraculously, works. The shark immediately goes limp in the doorway. 

Kazran lets out a breath, sagging against the back of the closet in relief. I can’t blame him, I kind of feel like doing the same thing myself. 

“That was rather anticlimactic.” The Doctor mutters into the silence. 

I’m immediately annoyed again. “Yeah, but it was better than putting your hand in a shark’s mouth and hoping it doesn’t bite you.”

He scowls at me. “The way it was stuck in the doorway was keeping its mouth open, I would have been fine.” 

“You have no way of knowing if it actually was or not.” I roll my eyes at him, annoyance fading away even as the argument continues. 

“Yes I do.” The Doctor says with confidence. 

“Oh?” I ask, wanting to see where this is going. “How?” 

“Well-“ He blusters, puffing himself up. “I just do!”

Kazran giggles, breaking the moment and drawing our attention to him. “You two are silly.”

The Doctor raises his eyes back to mine, lips twitching. “Silly huh? I think you might be right about that.”

I can’t help but smile back at him. Then, I bustle everyone up off the floor. Kazran comes first, then the Doctor who brushes a kiss against the corner of my mouth in thanks. 

“Okay.” I shake my arms out, considering the shark in the doorway. “Let’s hope this thing doesn’t wake up while we’re moving it out of the way.” 

“Stand back a bit Kazran.” The Doctor instructs, which Kazran does. And then we proceed to have one of the strangest experiences of my life. 

The shark is heavy, but not overwhelmingly so with the two of us carrying it, and we manage to move it to the balcony that we arrived on in the first place. 

The Doctor does indeed stick his hand in the shark’s mouth, to my unending displeasure, but he manages to retrieve his sonic, though he’s only successful with half of it. I guess the shark bit it in two? 

“What's the big fishy done to you? Swallowed half of you, that's what.” The Doctor grouses, pacing back and forth, smacking his screwdriver off of his hand. “Half a screwdriver, what use is that? Bad, big fishy.”

Kazran kneels next to the shark, a concerned look on his face. “I think-I think she’s dying.”

Judging by the labored breathing, I’d say he was right. I kneel down next to the shark next to him, placing a hand on his back. Kazran leans into the touch and the scent of salt tinges the air. 

“I’d say you were right.” The Doctor replies, voice gentle. He kneels next to us on the other side of the shark. “I doubt they can survive long outside the cloud belt.”

“Can't we get it back up there?” Kazran asks, sniffing. “We were just going to stun it. I didn't want to kill it.”

“She was trying to eat you.” The Doctor tries justifying, but even as he says it I can feel that he doesn’t mean it. 

Kazran shakes his head, looking up at the Doctor for the first time since he came over to us. There are tears on his face. “She was hungry.”

My arm slides around the boys’ shoulders, tugging him closer to my body. He clings to my hand, making me go focused in a way I’ve only experienced a few times in my life. I flick my eyes up to the Doctor, who’s already looking at me with a look not unlike my own. “There isn’t anything we can do?” 

“I could take her back up there, but she'd never survive the trip.” The Doctor states. But he’s still looking at me like he’s waiting for something. “We need a fully functioning life-support.”

Kazran perks up. “You mean like an icebox? Okay.” 

“Okay?” I reiterate, standing up when Kazran does. 

“Yeah, I know where we can get one of those.” Kazran tells us, already climbing back through the window to his bedroom. 

“Kazran!” I call after him, trying to keep my voice down, even as the Doctor and I try to keep up. “Where are you going to get an icebox?” 

Kazran gestures down the stairs impatiently. “Hurry, you said we don’t have much time.”

I have to give him that one. The Doctor brushes his arm against mine as we follow the boy down the stairs, sending me his affection. I glance at him confused, but all I get is a bright smile in return. 

What a weirdo. 

Entering the same room as the one we’d seen in the future, I take in the huge tree that’s dominating the space. The Doctor runs over, delighted by the difference but Kazran pays us no mind, instead going over to a lantern on the wall and lighting it before making his way down a back staircase. 

There is a vault at the bottom of the staircase, and a fine layer of frost over everything to complement it. 

“What is this?” The Doctor asks, peering in through the window at whatever is in the room. 

Kazran strains to turn the wheel on the door, but it doesn’t move. “The surplus population. That's what my Dad calls it.”

I move to help him, but the door remains stubbornly shut. 

“Oh, it's not turning.” Kazran huffs, voice breathless. “Oh, why won't it turn?”

“Ah.” The Doctor looks up from the keypad next to the door, one that I hadn’t noticed until he went over. “I’m going to need your sonic, dear.” 

Pulling it from my pocket, I toss it over. He only fumbles for it twice, and I get a dirty look for my amusement at his expense, but then we are in business. 

The wheel turns as soon as the Doctor uses his sonic on the keypad, revealing the room inside. 

“The surplus population.” I murmur, taking in the room. “People, frozen people.” 

The room extends out in front of us, rows upon rows of the same pod as earlier. There must be hundreds of people down here. 

Kazran takes off down one of the rows, and we both hurry to follow. As we walk, fish scatter away from our legs. 

“Ah, there’s fish down here too.” The Doctor looks intrigued, my sonic humming to life as he scans the surroundings. 

Kazran nods. “Yeah, but only tiny ones. The house is built on a fog lake, that's how Dad freezes the people. They're all full, but we could borrow one.” He pauses in front of a seemingly random pod. “Yeah, this one.” 

But it might not be so random after all. This is the same woman that was in the pod several decades in the future. 

“Hello again.” The Doctor murmurs. I suppose we are on the same wavelength on this one. 

“You know her?” Kazran looks between the pod and the Doctor, clearly confused. 

Glancing over at me, the Doctor quirks an eyebrow. “Why her?” 

I shrug. “She’s probably important.” 

Kazran reaches forward, hitting a button on the side of the pod. “She won't mind. She loves the fish.”

A hologram pops up in front of the pod, showing the person inside. “My name is Abigail Pettigrew, and I'm very grateful for Mister Sardick's kindness. My father-“

“She starts to talk about the fish in a minute.” Kazran talks over her. He’s very excited about the fish, it seems Kazran has a one track mind. The Doctor wanders off down the row a bit, looking into other people’s pods. 

“-But I would not allow it.” Abigail continues. “I could not have chosen this path were it not for the compassion and generosity of the great philanthropist and patron of the poor, Mister Elliot Sardick. But I'm also surrounded by the fish, the beautiful, iridescent, magical fish.”

“Why are these people here?” I hear the Doctor murmur, almost to faint to hear. It’s clear he’s asking it to himself. The next time he speaks his voice is much higher, high enough for even Kazran to hear him. “What's all this for?”

Kazran turns from the pod in the direction the Doctor is in. There is a strange mixture of shame and guilt in his expression. “My dad lends money. He always takes a family member as, he calls it security.”

All these people in here are basically currency. That’s a cheery thought. 

“Hard man to love, your dad.” The Doctor replies, turning to look at us. “But I suppose you know that.”

Kazran ducks his head, pressing a few more buttons on the pod. Abigail’s hologram disappears, and a light turns on, illuminating her face instead. 

A beeping noise, kind of like sonar resounds through the room in the direction of the Doctor. 

“What was that?” I ask him. 

He pulls the bottom half of his screwdriver out of his pocket, giving it a peculiar look. “Just my half a screwdriver trying to repair itself. It's signaling the other half.”

An answering beep comes from somewhere else in the room. 

“The other half's inside the shark.” Kazran states, looking up at me. 

“Yeah?” The Doctor agrees. “Sounds like she's woken up. Okay, so it's homing on the screwdriver.”

There is no warning other than the sound as the shark rears up out of the fog in front of us. The Doctor dodges to the right, while I grab Kazran and dodge to the left. 

The tail of the shark gives us a solid smack on it’s way past, and I do my best to cushion the fall. The fin trails down the corridor, the rest of the shark being covered by the fog. 

Kazran tries to run, in the absolute wrong direction, but I hold him back and pull him further up the row instead. The sonar ping starts circling, never quite far away but never quite close enough to us to cause my heart rate to jump again. 

There are no screams of pain, or of fear, so I’m going to assume my wayward partner had the good sense to listen as I was doing. 

And then there was singing. 

Someone was singing, with an absolutely gorgeous voice, some sort of opera song. 

I peer out around the corner to see Abigail, kneeling next to the shark. The animal is docile, patiently sitting there while Abigail strokes its side. 

Tugging on Kazran’s arm, I direct him out to see this miracle. 

He inhales, a sharp sound, but there is a good amount of awe in his expression, so I let him approach. 

Abigail looks up at us, rueful, even as she continues singing. 

The Doctor stumbles out from between two of the cryo tubes. Reaching out with a hand, curl my fingers around his, leaning my head against his shoulder. It’s a beautiful song. And it’s a beautiful setting, almost ephemeral with the fog and ice everywhere. 

The Doctor hums, content, before he clears his throat. “It's not really the singing, that makes them docile like that.”

“Yes, it is.” Kazran insists, still focused on Abigail.

“Nah.” The Doctor shakes his head. 

The boy sends him a brief dirty look. “The fish love the singing. It's true.”

“Nah. The notes resonate in the ice crystals, causing a delta wave pattern in the fog.” The Doctor explains, ruining the magic. I reach over and pinch him. “Ow!” 

“Shut up, then.” Kazran mutters, expression growing more annoyed the longer the Doctor talks. 

“Of course.” The Doctor breathes. “That's how the machine controls the cloud belt. The clouds are ice crystals. If you vibrate the crystals at exactly the right frequency, you could align them into-“ This time I dig my elbow into his ribs. “-ow! Why do you keep doing that?” 

“Be clever later, let Kazran enjoy the singing.” I scold, shooting him a look. 

He gapes at me for a second, before his expression turns to something sweet. Squeezing my hand, the Doctor nods. “Yes, dear.” 

The Doctor even manages to be still for almost a full minute before he starts fidgeting. I knock our shoulders together, fond. “Why don’t you go grab the Tardis?” 

He lights us, sending a grateful look in my direction. “Be back in a mo!”

The Doctor’s foot has just turned the corner when the sound of the Tardis materializing fills the room. 

He wasn’t kidding about the back in a moment, was he?

Abigail’s eyes widen, but her voice doesn’t waver. Kazran, on the other hand, gapes at the site of the box materializing. 

“This is the Tardis, you saw it earlier. It’s our transport.” I wink at the two, smiling as Kazran turns his look of awe to me. 

The Doctor bursts out of the door, manic energy firmly in place. “Alright! Hope you didn’t miss me, it was only a moment. Anyways, let’s get this shark in the cryo pod.” 

The two of us maneuver the shark into the container, though we quickly find that unless we turn the cryo chamber on it’s side, the shark isn’t going to go in properly. 

Once the shark is inside though, it’s easy work to pick up the chamber to move it through the doors of the Tardis. She helpfully fudges the width of her doors just a bit so we can actually fit the chamber inside. 

Kazran and Abigail crowd the doorway, gaping around at the interior. “It’s bigger on the inside!”

I smile over at them, feeling the Doctor come to stand behind me. “Welcome to our home.” 

“It’s called the Tardis.” The Doctor continues, his own smile plain in his voice. “It can travel through space and time. And it’s ours.” 

Abigail shakes her head in disbelief, delight still on her face. “This is incredible.”

I gesture for the two of them to come inside fully. They do, but they have the kind of look that most people get on their faces the first time they see the inside of the Tardis. That sort of awed, disbelief that slowly turns to delighted acceptance. 

Closing the door, I turn to smile at the Doctor. 

He smiles back, clapping his hands to get Abigail and Kazran’s attention. “Right, now we’re ready.”

“To take the shark back?” Kazran asks, his one track mind still focused on the shark. 

The Doctor looks over a Kazran from under his lashes, typing on the typewriter before pulling the dematerialization lever. “Exactly!”

Kazran clings onto Abigail’s as the floor shakes. I’m so used to it at this point that I absentmindedly reach over and use the door as a stabilizer. 

The shaking subsides and the Doctor bows in my direction. “And this is just the transport, if you want to be impressed, take a look out there. That’s where incredible lives.” 

I take the cue, opening the door and watching their faces light up with awe. 

“All the fish.” Abigail murmurs, coming up to the door. 

Kazran shuffles forward as well. “Wow.” 

Moving out of the doorway to give them a better view, I lean back into the Doctor who has come up behind me. “Impressive.” 

He laughs, matching the quiet of my voice. “I try.” 

Oh, he so does. The Doctor is basically fifty percent dramatics. Though I can’t really say anything, I’m starting to see the fun in it.

Clapping my hands to get everyone’s attention, I nod back at the cryo chamber. “Alright, let’s get this shark back where it belongs.” 

The Doctor gestures for Abigail and Kazran to move aside. Abigail goes without protest, but Kazran takes a little convincing. In the end, Abigail has to pull him away from the doorway. 

Once everyone is clear, I press the door mechanism on the side of the cryo chamber. As soon as the door is open, the shark immediately takes off towards the door. 

“Hey.” Kazran rushes for the door as soon as the shark leaves, watching it swim through the clouds. “Look at her go.” 

I smile at him indulgently, before turning my attention back to the cryo chamber. There, clear as day, are a set of numbers on the front of the chamber. 

008

“Abigail, what’s this number mean.” I ask her. 

“It pertains to me, madam, not the fish.” Abigail tells me, leaving Kazran near the door as she walks closer to the both the Doctor and I. 

I tilt me head in confusion. “Okay, but how?”

Abigail turns to the Doctor, a frown fliting over her face. “You are a doctor, you say? Are you one of mine?”

The Doctor frowns at her in return. “Do you need a doctor?”

Before she can respond a microwave dings near the console. The Doctor spins around, going over and pressing a few buttons. “Ah. Sorry. Time's up, kids.”

Kazran sighs dramatically. “Why?”

The Doctor gives the boy his best smile. “It’s nearly Christmas Day.” 

That cheers Kazran up slightly, and the Doctor continues piloting us back to the mansion. But, while the Doctor might have temporarily ignored Abigail’s words, I couldn’t. Something was rubbing me the wrong way about this whole situation. 

What did the number 8 have anything to do with Abigail herself?

We land once again, and my questions are put on the back burner as we move the cryo chamber back into it’s original position. 

Abigail steps back into the ice box, smiling at us. “If you should ever visit again-“

“Well, you know, if we’re ever in the neighborhood.” The Doctor offers, polite. 

“They come every Christmas Eve.” Kazran tells her. 

“No we don’t.” I cut in, confused as to how he got that impression. 

Kazran shakes his head. “They do. Every time. I promise.”

The Doctor looks between Abigail and Kazran, panicked. “No, we really don’t.”

Kazran closes the door before we can say anything else, the cryo process already starting. 

“Oi!” I turn around, glaring at the boy slightly. “Why’d you go and tell her that we come every Christmas?”

“Well.” Kazran ducks his head, not meeting my eyes. “I just thought that you could come visit sometimes.” 

The Doctor sighs, his reluctant fondness pressing up against my barriers. Yeah, that’s about how I feel as well. He kneels down next to the boy, forcing him to meet the Doctor’s eyes. “Kazran, you can’t just promise that other people will do something without talking to them about it first.” 

Kazran kicks at the floor with one of his feet, disappointment spreading across his face. “Sorry.” 

I place a hand on Kazran’s shoulder. “That being said, I think we might be able to stop by next Christmas eve.” 

The Doctor sends me a questioning look. I shrug in response, not entirely sure what I’m doing, but my gut tells me that it won’t do any harm. 

“Really?” Kazran asks, looking up at me in burgeoning hope. 

“Yep!” The Doctor rises to his feet. “Now off to bed with you.” 

Kazran runs off, looking back at us several times before he turns the corner to the door. Hopefully he gets to his room without running into anyone. 

“So we’re going to come back next Christmas, hm?” The Doctor raises an eyebrow at me. 

I shrug, just like I’d done before. “I couldn’t really say no to that face, and this will give us a chance to influence him more. One visit might not be enough to really change anything.”

He looks at me for a second, eyes seeing straight through to the center of me. “You never could resist the call of a child in need.”

Frowning at him, I raise an eyebrow in question. 

“There are some things that stay the same, no matter how you change through the years.” The Doctor says, waving his hand as if to ward off my questions. 

And so we jump to the next Christmas eve. I even find several Santa hats for us to wear in celebration. Kazran’s face is full of surprise when we show up, as if he thought we wouldn’t come. Maybe the Doctor was right about the child in need thing, because my heart melts at the sight. 

That Christmas, the Doctor rigs up a sleigh and somehow gets the same shark to come down so we can use it as our reindeer. 

It isn’t until after our adventure, when Abigail goes back into the cryo chamber, that I finally start getting some insight into what’s really going on with Abigail.

I watch the Doctor dart towards the Tardis, excited as a child on Christmas can be, and while I’m feeling the spirit of the holiday as well, there is something I need to check out before I join him for the next Christmas. 

A quick peek at the side of Abigail’s container confirms my suspicion. It says 7 now, when it had said 8 before. 

Why would an individual give themselves up for life on ice and be somewhat happy about it? 

When it didn’t matter that they wouldn’t be able to live the rest of their own life. 

7 days huh. 

Looks like we’d have to make these the best 7 days of her life. 

The next Christmas we go to Japan and the one after that we visit Egypt, then the Himalayas.

Every time we unfreeze Abigail, she has a smile ready for us. I really hope my theory isn’t correct, it’ll be sad to see such a strong spirit brought to rest. Kazran ages as well, snapshots of his life. From the boy we first met to a teenager. 

The fifth time we visit Kazran on Christmas Eve, Abigail has a request. She wants to spend this Christmas with her family. What can we do but oblige. 

Abigail doesn’t go inside though, not at first. She stands in front of the window, looking at what’s going on inside. The Doctor, Kazran and I stand a respectful distance away.

“Abigail's crying.” Kazran leans in, whispering. He has that look men get when they see a crying female, as if the world is ending and they don’t know what to do. 

The Doctor nods. “Yes.” 

Kazran looks even more panicked. “When girls are crying, are you supposed to talk to them?” 

The Doctor sends me a panicked glance of his own. “Er- well, I suppose that depends.” 

I roll my eyes. “Yes, go talk to her. But if she gets angry with you then back off and let her cry herself out.” 

Kazran takes a deep breath, squares his shoulders like he’s marching into battle, and walks right up to Abigail. 

“That’s good advice.” The Doctor muses from beside me. “To bad it only works half of the time.” 

“Woman are creatures of mystery, causing confusion anywhere they go.” I tease, lips twitching at the look this causes.

“You don’t have to tell me that, I learned that centuries ago.” The Doctor murmurs, pressing a kiss to the side of my head. “Now let’s go make this a happy Christmas.” 

And we do. Abigail’s sister pulls out the food and we feast. It’s not lavish, but it’s clear the family has more than enough good cheer and love to make up for that. And honestly, I prefer it this way. 

Plus, I can’t help but notice the fact the Kazran and Abigail are holding hands under the table. 

Merry Christmas indeed. 

That night is the night where things change for the two of them. When we drop Abigail off at her cryo chamber, she asks for some alone time with Kazran. 

The Doctor goes to mess it up, not picking up on the social cues, but I pull him away before that can happen. Though there is a little hiccup with Kazran. The Doctor gives him a little man to man advice, and we are off. 

The next Christmas we try to pack in as much as we can, the Statue of Liberty, Sydney Opera House, Empire State Building, and the Eiffel tower. 

After that, it’s time for a more lowkey adventure. The Doctor throws out a couple of ideas, and I pick the one that sounds the most interesting.

“Hollywood huh?” I muse, thinking about it. “I’ve never been.” 

The Doctor nods. “Hollywood it is then.” 

And that’s that. I go to change, mischievousness blooming at the sight of the dress the Tardis has lying on the bed for me. “Playing matchmaker girl?”

She hums, feeling smug. 

By the time I find my way back to the console room, I’ve showered and primped, ready for the day. The Doctor has also changed into a suit with a white jacket and black bowtie. The combination of which is really quite striking. 

“You sure clean up well.” I murmur, enjoying the way his eyes light up at the sight of me.

The Doctor smirks, grabbing my hand and twirling me around so my dress, a Marlyn Monroe knockoff, flares out at the bottom. “You look extra gorgeous today dear.” 

I blush, not able to help my response. 

“And I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of causing one of these.” He continues, fingers coming up to brush against the flush of color on my cheeks. 

“Oh, stop it.” I scold, blush darkening. 

The Doctor hums. “Make me.” 

Grabbing him by his bowtie tails, I reel him in for a kiss. The kiss starts out demanding, a bit of teeth and a bit of tongue. After a few seconds of that, I gentle it to something a bit more casual. His amusement is evident, as well as his enjoyment of the kiss. 

Pulling back, I enjoy the look of disappointment that crosses his face the split second before he tries to reel me in for a second kiss. 

I don’t pull away, even when he goes for a third, and a forth kiss. But- “Don’t we have a Christmas to take Kazran and Abigail to?” I murmur, catching his hands as the Doctor reaches for the straps of my dress. 

“Christmas?” The Doctor tilts his head, confusion clear in his face. “We have a time machine, dear, we can pick them up for Christmas at any time.” 

A smirk crosses my face, even as I lean back against the console and pull the materialization lever. “Oh? But it looks like we’re going to pick them up now.” 

His eyes light up, mischief present in the slant of his mouth. “Payback for earlier, I presume?” 

Clever man. “I’m sure I don’t have any idea of what you’re talking about.”

“Somehow I thought you’d say that.” The Doctor’s anticipation hums through me. “Are you sure you’re ready, minx?” 

Am I ready? Probably not, but that’s not going to stop me. I bring my hand up to the Doctors face, rubbing my thumb against the corner of his mouth where a spot of my lipstick had smudged, watching as his eyes dilate in response. “Oh Doctor, are you sure you’re ready?”

A knock sounds on the front door before he can respond, Kazran popping his head in and beaming at the sight of us. “You’re right on time!” 

“Yep!” I reply, turning away from the Doctor and heading instead of Kazran, all the while ignoring the way the Doctor watches me as I go. The boy has turned into a handsome teenager, and I can’t help but fuss over his crooked bowtie, straightening it. 

Kazran puts up with it in good spirits, too excited to be annoyed. Though he does roll his eyes when I go to fix his waistcoat. “I’m fine Mabel, now let’s go wake Abigail up.” 

I grin up at him about to respond, but the Doctor cuts in before I have a chance to, coming up behind me and placing a hand at the center of my back. “Why don’t you go wake Abigail up, and then bring her here, hm?”

Kazran grins back at us, rushing out of the room without saying anything, clearly excited to see Abigail again. 

The Doctor’s breath feathers against my ear as he leans in. “Kazran has turned into a fine young man, don’t you think?”

Once I get my instinctive shiver under control, I nod in agreement. “He has. Though I have to say I’m sort of sad to be seeing him grow up so fast.” 

It’s snapshots of time, one minute Kazran was a child and now he stands here, taller than me, as a young adult. One who dresses up to impress a girl. My lips twitch into a smile. Go Kazran. 

The Doctor huff, hand pressing harder against my back. There is a sort of bittersweet happiness bleeding over from his side of the connection. “Children always grow up faster than we want them to.” I turn, concerned, but the Doctor waves me off. “Don’t mind me, I’m just being a nostalgic old man.” 

Kazran and Abigail come back through the doors, laughing, and the Doctor immediately puts his mask back up. His manic energy and beaming smile a perfect façade, only I can feel the pang of longing that’s undercutting everything. 

I don’t confront him about it, even though I very badly want to, instead I just send him my support and the knowledge that I’m here if he needs anything. 

The bittersweet feeling dissipates some and the next loop around the console the Doctor makes, he sends me a genuine smile. 

“Hollywood! 1952!” The Doctor exclaims. “If you’re looking for a party, there’s no better place to go.” 

And what a party it turns out to be. 

While Kazran and Abigail quickly disappear into the rabble, the Doctor pulls me over to a live performance with Frank Sinatra. 

Sinatra’s voice is like something from a fairytale, one of those old songs you listen to when you want shared nostalgia. It isn’t long before people break off into pairs and start swaying along to the cadence. 

The Doctor grabs my hands, placing them in the proper positions before he pulls me into a dance. It’s not one I’m familiar with, or one anyone in the area is familiar with judging by the glances, but I don’t mind. He guides me through the steps, his own steps assured in a way that this regeneration is normally lacking. 

In fact, the whole dance is very similar to a tease. Each movement of his hand against mine is amplified, every time he pulls me close sends a familiar heat throughout my body. 

This dance, I suddenly realize, is a seduction. And one that the Doctor isn’t immune to. His elevated heartsrate and dilatated eyes evidence that the intimacy of the moment isn’t lost on him. 

Anticipation shoots through me. I wonder just how long we are going to push this before it boils over?

The Doctor smirks, smug and cocky. His thumb strokes over my pulse. “Still think you’re up for it?”

I smile back at him, my teeth bared in challenge. He dips me, and I take the opportunity to stroke the back of his neck while using the excuse of holding on. “Oh sweetheart, don’t underestimate me.” 

The moment hangs there. I become aware of the fact that the music has ended, and we are the center of attention, but I can’t bring myself to care. 

The Doctor slowly brings me out of my dip, eyes dark and intent. “Oh, I very rarely underestimate you these days. Looking forward to the reminder of why I shouldn’t.” He ends the dance with a kiss to my hand, bowing over it like he’s a Victorian gentleman. 

The crowd cheers, another song starts up, and they flood the dance floor. Some of them even incorporating the same dance routine the Doctor and I just showcased, well their best rendition of it anyways. 

I, on the other hand, keep my attention firmly on the Doctor. He still has a hold of my hand and I use that to pull him in for a second dance. 

We dance, and we dance. Our feet moving in time to the beat while our minds brush up against one another with promise. 

My body is humming, arousal and anticipation a heady mixture. Every place our bodies touch is alight with pleasure. At this point, even the feathering of his breath against my face is a reminder of what’s to come. 

When the tension boils over, it happens in unison. One moment we are twirling around the clearing and the next our feet change course at the same time. The new path leads us away from the crowd and into an area behind the mansion that’s dark enough to give the illusion of privacy. 

That illusion is all that matters. As soon as we are far enough into the darkness, I pin the Doctor up against the wall and pull him into a kiss. It’s a kiss that I easily lose myself in. 

I honestly don’t know how long we stand there, enjoying the moment, but by the time I sink to my knees in front of him the Doctor is more than ready for me. His arousal is an insistent bulge against the fabric of his suit, and I enjoy his moan of relief when my fingers make short work of the fastenings of his trousers. 

“Mabel.” The Doctor murmurs, breathy and reverent. His hand reaches out and cups the back of my head. 

I hum, encouraging, even as I pull his briefs down and free his erection.

The Doctor huffs out a breath, fingers spasming against the back of my head in a way that tells me his control is fraying. 

Good.

I want that control to be shattered by the end of this. 

Licking my hand, I grip the base of his arousal and go in slow. The Doctor makes a shaky sound, head pressing back against the wall he’s leaning against. My tongue swirls around his glans and I revel in the sound it produces. 

Keeping the motion up, I wait until his hips start to make small aborted thrusts, before straightening my head and swallowing in one slow motion. 

The Doctor’s hips jolt forward, the motion sharp, while his hand tightens on the back of my head, holding me in place. It helps me overcome my instinctive urge to pull back. This isn’t something I’ve done in a long while. 

A stream of Gallifreyan pours from the Doctor’s lips, and while I don’t understand the words themselves the context is very clear. 

I hum, resulting in another aborted thrust, before the Doctor seems to get with the program. He circles his hips, a shuddering moan making its way to my ears. It doesn’t take long, before he’s at the edge. The both of us have been teasing each other for some time.

The Doctor’s hand tightens against the back of my head again, fingers tugging at the hair there, resulting in a bolt of heat traveling directly to my center. His urgency hits me, and I moan in response. The Doctor’s hips judder, a muffled groan leaving his mouth as his release finds him. I continue to suck softly until I feel the resonation of discomfort form his side of the connection, pulling away to rest my head against his hip.

Our connection is humming. Ready to pull us into a loop of pleasure at any moment, but I resist. I can feel him resisting as well. This is no place to lose control like that and we both know it. 

My own arousal is pulsing in time to my heart beat, but it’s easy to ignore when I can feel his euphoria over his own orgasm. Or, well, not so much ignore as stoke. I reach down, fingers finding their way under my dress and into my own wetness. 

The Doctor’s chest vibrates, a growl if there ever was one. But this time, instead of stopping like I had with his older self, I just look up at him in challenge. 

His eyes darken, pupils so dilated that his eyes are nearly black. The Doctor tugs me up by his grip in my hair, sliding my fingers away from my heat and into his mouth. 

It shouldn’t be arousing to watch him do that, but it is. A punched out little moan leaves my throat as his tongue swirls along my fingertips. 

The Doctor let’s my fingers slide free, turning so that I’m the one pinned to the wall. His fingers find my center even as his mouth finds my ear. “So wet for me Mabel, no matter the body. It’s like you were made for me.” 

That voice, like honey and silk, serves only to drive my arousal higher. His fingers thrust into my heat , his thumb stroking my button of pleasure and the only thing I can do in response is arch into the contact. 

I was already close, just by bringing the Doctor off, and it doesn’t take long till I’m clenching around his fingers. The Doctor swallows my gasp when the tension boils over, prolonging the experience for as long as he can. 

But I eventually come down from my high, leaning against his body, which is still pinning me to the wall. 

“…I can’t believe we just did that out in the open where anyone could see us.” I murmur, my own voice sounding shocked even to my ears. 

He laughs, retrieving his fingers and once again using his tongue to clean them. It’s still arousing, a tendril of interest flickers to life but I push it back reluctantly. 

“Yes.” The Doctor smiles, rueful. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the time for another round. Kids to take care of.” 

Yeah. 

The two of us straighten ourselves up, the Doctor tucking himself back into his pants and me attempting to fix my hair. He helpfully procures a mirror from his suit jacket, which allows me to do a much better job of fixing my appearance than hoping everything is fine would. 

I do, however, decide to not tell the Doctor about a smudge of lipstick near the corner of his mouth. 

The Doctor narrows his eyes at me. “What?”

My lips twitch, fighting a smile. Handing the mirror back, I give him an innocent look. 

“Yeah, that stopped working on me a long time ago.” He grouses, though it seems as if he decides not to push because he drops it. “Be mysterious if you want,” the Doctor says, waggling a finger at me, “-but I will find out!”

The two of us are descent now, so I slip my arm through his and direct him back towards the actual party. “And it will be so very funny for me when you do.” 

And it really is. 

We eventually stumble across Abigail and Kazran, though they are uncharacteristically quiet when we do, and the four of us head back to the Tardis where we each disperse to change out of the night’s outfit and back into our own more normal apparel. 

The Doctor heads into the bathroom, but I linger in the wardrobe waiting for-

Yep, there’s the squawk I was anticipating. 

Rapid footsteps to the door of the closet, and then the Doctor’s annoyed face comes into view. “Seriously?” 

The lipstick stain is still there, stark red against his skin. “Yep.” 

He rolls his eyes, grumbling even more as he retreats back into the bathroom. 

I can’t hold it in anymore, my laughter spilling into the room. His mood lightens, that I can feel, but his grumbling increases. 

Ha, can’t pretend to be annoyed when I have an inside look to your emotions. 

Taking a quick shower to wash the stickiness from between my legs, I throw my hair up into a messy pony tail before settling on a casual sweater and pair of Christmas leggings. They have snowflakes on them and the Doctor lights up when he sees them. 

“I know right?” I can’t help but gush in response. “I just found them in the back of the closet.” Lifting up a leg, I wiggle it invitingly. “Feel how soft they are!”

The Doctor reaches out and strokes the fabric, humming. “Anharian cotton, well not exactly cotton, their version of cotton.” 

“Well whatever type of material it is, I hope we bought as much as we were able to.” I murmur, still enjoying the way the cotton shifts across my skin. 

“Don’t worry about that.” He rolls his eyes. “We bought more than enough.” 

Good to know. 

“Anyways, let’s go drop the kids off.” I say, waiting for him to start down the hall before following him. 

He hums. “Yep, and then on to the next Christmas!”

Which just may be our last Christmas with Abigail, who’s cryo chamber had continued to count down after each thawing. I’d also hazard a guess that Abigail had finally told Kazran something, going by how quiet the two of them had been when we came back onto the Tardis. 

The Doctor charts a course back to when we first picked the two of them up this year, darting after them with all the energy of a 5 year old as they leave the Tardis.

“Good night, Abigail.” Kazran murmurs as Abigail goes back into her pod. 

Abigail smiles, her eyes focused on Kazran and no one else. “Good night, Kazran.”

Kazran closes the cryo chamber, initiating the freezing process. By the time he steps back, his face is worryingly blank. 

“There we go. Another day, another Christmas Eve.” The Doctor claps his hands together. “We’ll see you in a minute, eh?” I elbow him. “Er-I mean a year.”

Kazran’s mask wavers, just the tiniest bit, before I see his chin firm. “Doctor? Listen, why don't we leave it?”

“Sorry, leave what?” The Doctor frowns.

“Oh, you know, this. Every Christmas Eve.” Kazran states, gesturing at the Tardis. “It's getting a bit old.”

A pang of hurt resonates through our connection. The Doctor gapes at Kazran. “Old?”

“Well, Christmas is for kids, isn't it?” Kazran continues, running with the excuse he’s chosen. Even as he speaks, his hands are busy unfastening his bow tie. The meaning of the gesture isn’t lost on me. “I've got some work with my dad now. I'm going to focus on that. Get that cloud belt under control.” 

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” I cut in, already knowing what it is Kazran is going to say. 

Sure enough, Kazran nods. “It’ll be better this way.”

The Doctor clears his throat. “I hadn’t realized that we were boring you.” 

“Times change Doctor.” Kazran leans back on his heels. “It’s not your fault.” 

The boy who we’ve watched grow up over the course of the last few days gives us a nod of goodbye, turns on his heel and start to walk down the aisle.

“Not as much as I'd hoped.” The Doctor murmurs, low enough that Kazran probably couldn’t hear him. The next bit, he does raise his voice for. “Kazran.”

Kazran pauses, turning around. There is a mulish expression on his face.

The Doctor walks over to him, grabbing his half of the sonic from his pocket and offering it to the boy. “I'll be needing a new one, anyway. What the hell. Merry Christmas. And if you ever need me, just activate it. We’ll hear you.”

“I won't need you.” Kazran insists, voice hard. “Either of you.” 

Even though I have my suspicions as to why he’s doing this his words still send a jolt of hurt through me. Why can’t children stay in that golden age where they trust without being jaded with it?

“What's happened?” The Doctor asks, clearly taken aback by Kazran’s response. “What are you not telling me? “

Kazran shakes his head, turning and walking away again. 

“What about Abigail?” The Doctor tries. 

Kazran gestures around at the cryo pods, not even looking back at us. “I know where to find her.”

“Yeah.” I murmur. It had been easy to forget why we were doing this in the first place when we had been jumping from Christmas to Christmas, but this was a stark reminder of the man Kazran would grow up to be. 

The Doctor puts an arm around my shoulder, tugging me into his side. 

I look up at him. “Now what?” 

He grimaces. “We keep trying. It’s not like we can let all of those people die. Speaking of, any ideas?”

My mind races. My sonic wouldn’t work, that was clear with how he had been unable to shift it with his own sonic earlier. There was Abigail’s singing but- “It’s a long shot, but remember how Abigail’s song made the shark docile and you were saying something about the resonation of the ice crystals in the clouds?”

“Yes.” The Doctor tilts his head, I can feel his mind racing. “Maybe if we get everyone on the ship to sing it will cause the ice crystals to vibrate at exactly the right frequency. The clouds would unlock and let the ship through.” 

He’s not confident that it will though, that much I can tell. “It’s worth a shot, I suppose.” 

We head back to the Tardis and the Doctor inputs coordinates, sending us off to the future. 

“Ah, hold on. Can you give me a minute?” The Doctor asks, uncharacteristically serious. “There’s something I need to check first.” 

I frown at him, confused. “Okay, yeah. Sure.” 

Whatever he does only takes a few minutes, before he comes back to the Tardis, a frown of his own carved into his face. 

“What’s wrong?” I ask him, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

He pats the hand, but shakes his head. “Nothing, it was a long shot anyway.” Heading over to the console, the Doctor inputs new coordinates. 

This time we do go to the future, and Amy isn’t pleased that we haven’t found a way to fix this yet. 

‘What do you mean you weren’t able to change his mind?’ She hisses over her communication device. 

The Doctor takes the device from me, putting it up to his own ear. “We were trying to do it in a kind way, change his past so he became the kind of person who would help today. But something went wrong.”

Amy sighs. ‘Now what?’ 

“We found a woman, her singing was able to resonate the ice crystals in the clouds. If everyone on the ship sings it might be enough to unlock the clouds.” He continues, the frown on his face telling me he still doesn’t think it’s going to work. 

‘You don’t sound confident about that.’ Amy states. I can almost hear her eyes narrowing over the phone. ‘Where’s Mabel?’

I lean closer to the phone. “I’m here Amy.”

‘When the singing doesn’t work, I want to talk to this man.’ Is all she says to me, her voice firm. 

Despite the situation, despite the sinking feeling that’s been growing in my stomach, I can’t keep my lips from twitching up at her declaration. I’ve known this girl since she was seven years old. Just look at how she’s grown. “You got it.” 

Amy hangs up, and I’m left there with the Doctor giving me a look out of the corner of his eyes. 

“What?” I shift, uncomfortable. 

A smile curves his lips, a slow growing one, but a smile nonetheless. “I forget sometimes, the history the two of you have.” 

I frown at him. Yes, there is history between Amy and I, but he said it with a strange sort of inflection. As if there was another word he wanted to say, but he couldn’t find it. “What are you talking about?” 

“You two are χ ο ν ν ε χ τ ε δ.” The Doctor frowns. “It’s not something that translates well…But plainly put it means that she may not be the child of your blood but she’s a child of your heart.” 

Oh that. “Well I certainly had more of a hand in raising her then her aunt did.” And the longer both Amy and Rory spent up on the ship with us here in the present unable to do anything the more tense I could feel my shoulders getting. 

The Doctor places a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll figure something out.” 

Yeah. 

“Have the clouds unlocked yet?” I ask him, gesturing to the console.

He pads over to the console obligingly, clicking a few things on the typewriter. I don’t need the shake of his head to realize that it’s not working, the sinking feeling is plain as day from his side of the connection. 

To emphasize the point, the communicator chirps. 

I bring it up to my ear, already having an idea of what Amy is going to say. “You didn’t manage to change his mind did you?”

‘No.’ Amy admits. ‘And the singing hasn’t worked either.’

The Doctor takes the communicator, asking Amy about figures off of the onboard computer from the starship. 

Using the privacy, I take a moment to consider out options. The nice way didn’t work, the singing didn’t work, and neither did Amy’s brash personality. 

I missed Kazran, the child who trusted us to do what was best. The boy who loved Christmas and who only wanted to see the fish. 

He would be disgusted with how his future self-

The Doctor cuts himself off, eyes immediately flicking to mine. I can hear Amy asking him what’s wrong but he ignores her. 

“We tried it the nice way, and we tried it the practical way.” I murmur, and if it were anyone else I would be baring my teeth, but it’s not necessary here. He can already feel how my emotions are coalescing into something confident and dangerous. “Now we cheat, more than we did before.” 

He doesn’t scold me, or say it’s impossible, the Doctor just tilts his head in question. 

For that reason, I elaborate. “We’ve done ghost of Christmas past, and ghost of Christmas present. I think it’s time to do ghost of Christmas future.” 

“Kazran is set in his ways now, I don’t know how much that would help.” The Doctor states, which isn’t a no, but it’s a good thing that wasn’t what I was suggesting. 

“I wasn’t talking about the man he is now.” I watch as the Doctor tries to figure out I’m going with this. You can see his brain working. “I meant let’s show Kazran the boy who’s he’s going to become in the future.” 

His eyes widen, mouth parting at my words. It takes a few seconds, a few seconds where I stare him down, but the Doctor eventually nods. “That..just might work.” He brings the communicator up to his ear again, cutting Amy off. “Talk to Kazran again, I need you to keep his attention on you until we get there. In fact, if you can, show him what’s going on up there.” 

‘Good.’ Amy sighs in relief. ‘That’s your ‘I have a plan’ voice.’

“Yes, now do as I say.” The Doctor tells her, hanging up before she can say anything else. His eyes flick back over to me. “This might work, but it might make things worse. We’ve already meddled more than we should have in his life.” 

I know that, but… “Doctor, it’s Amy and Rory.” 

He sighs, leaning his head against mine. “Yes, and that’s the exact reason why I’m going along with it.” 

We need to move now, time is of the essence, but I stay pressed against his skin for a few more seconds. “Thank you.”

The Doctor whirls away, any signs of misgiving hidden now. 

xxxx

When we get to our location, a young Kazran greets us with a smile. “It’s not even Christmas yet!” 

“I know, but something very important is happening right now in the future.” I tell him, kneeling down to his level. “And you need to see it.”

Kazran frowns, eyes flicking between the two of us. “The future? What do you mean the future?”

I gesture to the blue box behind us. “The Tardis can move in time as well as space. Didn’t we mention that last time?” 

“A bit.” The boy smiles. “So where are we going?” 

“The future.” The Doctor puts a hand on his shoulder. “More specifically, your future. I’m not going to lie Kazran, it’s not going to be pleasant.” 

“But you want me to see it anyways?” Kazran clarifies, confused eyes flicking between the two of us. 

I nod. “Yes, there is something going on there. And our hope is that you seeing it will stop it from ever happening.” 

The boy firms his chin, the bravery that I’d come to see in him making an appearance now. “Well then, what are we waiting for?” 

The Tardis chimes when the three of us enter, but she either is unable to bring herself to scold us or she really doesn’t mind because I don’t get anything else from her. 

Frowning, I exchange a look with the Doctor. He shakes his head minutely. 

Okay. 

The Doctor flies us back to the present with only a minute and a half time difference. He even takes extra care to put her on silent, which he never does. 

A glance at the monitor shows us in the cryo room, our usual spot. Sardick is there, next to Abigail’s cryo pod and so is Amy’s hologram. 

‘-at's Abigail?’ She’s in the process of asking. 

‘I would never have known her if those two hadn't changed the course of my whole life to suit their own needs.’ Sardick states, not taking his eyes away from the pod.

Amy’s mouth twitches in confusion. ‘Well, that's good, isn't it?’

Sardick’s lip rises in disgust. ‘No.’

“What’s going on? Why is he in front of Abigail’s pod?” Kazran asks, drowning out what Amy says in response. The Doctor draws the boy away, starting to explain the whole situation, while I refocus on the conversation. 

‘Oh, yes.’ Sardick answers, hand coming up to touch the pod. ‘Any time at all. Any time I choose.’

‘Then why don't you?’ Amy prompts. 

‘This is what the Doctor and Mabel did to me. Abigail was ill when she went into the ice. On the point of death.’ Sardick explains, confirming my suspicions. That’s why there was a number on her pod. ‘I suppose the rest in the ice helped her. But she's used up her time. All those Christmas Eves with me. I could release her any time I want, and she would live a single day.’ He turns from the pod, voice rising out of the gentle cadence he had been using and into something more hostile. ‘So tell me, Ghost of Christmas Present, how do I choose which day?’

Amy hadn’t expected that, I can tell by the way she shuffles back and forth before she answers. ‘I'm sorry. I really am. I'm very, very sorry.’ She hesitates, but not for long, and the next thing out of her mouth goes for the jugular. ‘But you know what? She's got more time left than I have. More than anyone on this ship.’

‘Good.’ Sardick spits. 

‘Rory, widen the beam.’ Amy instructs, narrowing her eyes at Sardick. 

Her hologram disappears, but I’m going to assume that by doing that they overlay Sardick’s perception with what’s on the ship instead of the room he’s in going by how he looks around in confusion. His next words confirm that theory. ‘How did I get here?’

The Doctor sonics the receiver that we’ve been using for communication and the continued conversation fills the room. 

‘You didn't.’ Amy states, her tone knowing. ‘It's your turn to be the hologram. Since you're going to let a lot of people die, I thought you might like to see where it's all going to happen.’

Sardick dismisses that, looking around. ‘The singing. What is it? I don't understand.’

‘It's the Doctor's idea. The harmonies resonate in the ice crystals, that's why the fish like it. He thought maybe it would stabilize the ship.’ Rory tells Sardick, his own personal brand of ‘fuck you’ coming through nicely in his tone. ‘But it isn't working. It's not powerful enough.’

‘Why are they still singing, then?’ Sardick asks, turning to look at something else. 

‘Because we haven't told them.’ An unfamiliar voice cuts in. ‘Sir, I understand you have a machine that controls this cloud layer. If you can release us from it, we still have time to make a landing. Nobody has to die.’

Sardick scoffs. ‘Everybody has to die.’

Kazran says something to the Doctor, who shushes him, but it’s enough for me to lose the thread of the conversation for a second. 

I gesture for the two of them to stay here, leaving the Tardis door open a crack, before stepping outside. I can see Sardick in person now, staring off at something only he can see. I circle around, putting him between the me and the Tardis. This way I keep his attention on me, while keeping an eye on what is happening on the ship.

“-as good as any other.” Sardick raises an insolent eyebrow. “How do you choose?” 

‘Mabel?” Amy asks through the communicator. 

Going to the element of surprise huh. Good one. “Yes Amy.” 

‘Are you hearing this?’ She continues. 

“It’s coming through loud and clear.” I murmur, lowering the receiver. 

Sardick whirls around wildly. “She’s here? Where is she?” They must reverse what they had done to show him the ship, because Sardick’s eyes suddenly focus on me. “Mabel?”

I incline my head in greeting. “Hello Kazran.” 

“You-“ He starts, cutting himself off before he can say anything else. 

“I’m sorry about Abigail.” I say, before he can do anything else. “While I had some suspicions, I didn’t know exactly what the numbers were for.” 

Sardick huffs bitterly. “All my life, I've been called heartless. My other life, my real life, the one you rewrote. Now look at me.”

And look at him I do. He’s become a bitter old man and it’s heartbreaking. “There’s an old saying, better to have loved and lost than to have not loved at all.” 

“Oh, try it. You try it.” Sardick spits, so very angry. “Why are you here?”

“Kazran Sardick. You’ve seen the past, and you’ve definitely seen the present.” I look him straight in the eyes. “Now it’s time for you to see the future.”

“Fine.” Sardick gestures wildly. “Do it. Show me. I'll die cold, alone and afraid. Of course I will. We all do. What difference does showing me make?” He moves, walking until he’s less than a foot away from me. “Do you know why I'm going to let those people die? It's not a plan. I don't get anything from it. It's just that I don't care.” 

He tilts his head to the side, the words deliberately cruel. It’s takes an effort to not let them get to me as he continues. “I'm not like you. I don't even want to be like you. I don't and never, ever will care.”

The Doctor nudges me mentally, our plan coming together. 

“Oh Kazran, I don’t believe that at all.” I murmur, eyes catching sight of both the child Kazran once used to be and my partner. The Doctor has a gentle hand on Kazran’s shoulder, but his eyes are hard. 

“Then show me the future.” Sardick scoffs, so sure of his stance that he’s pretending to give me a choice. “Prove me wrong.”

“I am showing it to you. You’re seeing it right now.” I look away from the man and turn my attention to the boy. “I told you we had something important to show you. This is the man you become in the future. Is this someone who you’d be proud to have become?” 

Kazran takes a few shaky steps forward, clearly frightened but still brave in the face of it. He examines his future self. “Dad?” 

Sardick lurches forward, hand raised as if to hit the boy. The only reason I don’t move is because he didn’t hit the boy earlier. And, if I’m being honest, a little bit of hope that the boy who loved fish is still in there somewhere. 

My hope, it seems, isn’t misplaced. Sardick’s hand lingers there for several seconds, the hit not landing, before something in the man seems to break. He crumbles, pulling his younger self into a hug. “I'm sorry.” Sardick apologizes, tears in his voice. Kazran is also crying, but he leans into the hug nonetheless. “I'm so, so sorry. It's okay, don't be frightened. I'm, I'm so, so, so-“

“Kazran. We don't have much time.” The Doctor cuts in, interrupting the touching scene. He’s right though. There isn’t much time at all. 

“The people.” Sardick states, looking horrified. “All those people, I was just going to let them die.” 

“Yes, but now you won’t.” I interrupt before he can fully get into it, shooing everyone towards the staircase. “Time to freak out about life choices later, save people now.” 

Everyone hurries up the stairs, except the Doctor who needs a moment to let Amy and Rory know that we’ve found a solution and to anticipate being able to land soon. 

The only problem is, when we get up to the cloud control console Sardick isn’t able to turn it off. Buttons beep, but the machine stays on. We can’t even budge the frequency. 

“Why haven’t you turned it off yet?” The Doctor asks, rushing into the room. 

“It’s not working.” Sardick mutters, pressing a switch for the fourth time. “The controls, they won't respond.”

The Doctor scoffs. “Of course they will. They're isomorphic. They're tuned to your brainwaves. They'll only respond to you.”

“They won't respond.” Sardick insists. 

“That doesn't make sense. “ The Doctor murmurs, pressing a few buttons of his own. “That's ridiculous. Why wouldn't?” He pauses, eyes closing. A sense of dread brushes over my mind from his. 

“What’s wrong?” I ask him immediately. 

The Doctor opens his eyes, focusing on me. “Oh Mabel. All of that, and for what? God, we’re so stupid.” 

“What's wrong?” Sardick asks, eyes flicking between us. “Tell me, what is it?”

“It's you.” The Doctor tells him. “We've changed you too much. The machine doesn't recognize you anymore.” 

“It was tuned to his wavelengths before.” I try, but even as I’m saying it I know that he’s right. 

Sardick nods. “She’s right, my father programmed it.” 

“No, your father would never have programmed it for the man you are now.” The Doctor shakes his head, taking a few steps back. 

“Then what do we do?” Sardick asks, back straightening. 

“Er.” The Doctor hesitates. “Er, I don't know. I really don't know.”

Kazran gestures at the machine. “There must be something.”

“This.” Sardick states, pulling the half of screwdriver that the Doctor gave him so many years ago from his pocket. “You can use this. I kept it, see?”

“What, half a screwdriver?” The Doctor scoffs, turning to pace. Something stops him though, and I think I might be cluing into it too. 

“Half of a screwdriver.” I smile as the Doctor turns around to look at me, his own face reflecting mine. “With the other half in a shark, who’s probably still up there.” 

“The other half up in the sky in a big old shark, right in the heart of the cloud layer.” The Doctor agrees, voice coming faster as his plan coalesces. “If we use your aerial to boost the signal, set up a resonation pattern between the two halves. Ooo, come on, that would work. My screwdriver, coolest bit of kit on this planet. Coolest two bits. It could do it.”

Sardick frowns, confused. “Do what?”

“Well, my screwdriver is still trying to repair. It's signaling itself. We use the signal, but we send something else.” The Doctor explains, his energy fading. 

“The singing. Abigail’s singing.” I state, catching on. 

The Doctor nods. “Yes. And I’m so sorry Kazran, I truly am.” 

Sardick’s face goes tense and he protests the entire way down to the cryo room. “-Could you do this? Think about it, Doctor. One last day with your beloved. Which day would you choose?”

The Doctor glances over at me. “The past is always the past, and the future is always uncertain. If I only had a day left with the person I loved, I would choose now.” 

Oh Doctor. I brush our shoulders together, sending him affection. He smiles halfheartedly at me, but the darkness I can feel inside of him lingers behind his eyes. 

Sardick scowls. I guess he didn’t expect that answer. But it seems as if we’ve changed him enough as a person that he’s still willing to let her be woken up. 

The process begins, Abigail’s face being illuminated. 

“Her voice resonates perfectly with the ice crystals.” The Doctor muses. “It calmed the shark. It should calm the sky too.” 

“One last day.” Sardick murmurs, turning towards us. “You can choose, but I don’t know how I can choose. Which day is the best day?” 

“Christmas. Christmas Day.” Abigail states, closing the door to her pod. I had been so focused on Sardick that I hadn’t even noticed the process finishing. “Look at you. You're so old now. I think you waited a bit too long, didn't you?”

“I’m sorry.” Sardick says, hand coming up to cup Abigail’s cheek. 

“Hoarding my days, like an old miser.” She teases, smiling. 

Sardick shakes his head, expression crumbling. “But if you leave the ice now-“ 

“We've had so many Christmas Eves, Kazran.” Abigail interrupts, her voice gentle but firm. “I think it's time for Christmas Day.”

“Yes.” He murmurs, helpless in the face of her words. 

It’s easy to tell that Sardick would still do anything for Abigail, even after all these years. 

I take a step towards them, getting both of their attention. “Before the Christmas day, there’s something we need you to do.” 

“There is a spaceship with four thousand and three people trapped in the cloud layer right now.” The Doctor continues, our goals the same in this. “And the machine used to control the clouds is useless.”

Abigail inclines her head. “I can calm the fish, but I cannot calm the sky. My voice has never been able to do that.” 

The Doctor bustles us all into the Tardis. “That much is true. But. With one half of my screwdriver down here, and the other half still stuck in a shark in the middle of the cloud layer, I should be able to beam your voice directly into the clouds themselves.”

“The clouds will unlock, which will let the ship land.” I finish for him, letting him pilot us into a better position. Said position ends up being on the street in front of Sardick’s mansion. 

Frowning, I barely have time to look back at the Tardis before the Doctor bursts out of the doors, a long cable in his arms. A little bit of tinkering later and he’s managed to hook up the bottom of his screwdriver, using the Tardis to amplify the signal. 

“This is much easier than it could have been if you didn’t bring your sonic.” The Doctor mumbles, said screwdriver held between his teeth as he twists the last wires together. 

“You should thank yourself.” I tell him, voice wry, holding out a hand to help him up. 

One last buzz from the sonic later and he accepts that hand. His energy is all encompassing, spilling over to me. It’s making me jittery. 

I follow the Doctor out of the Tardis as he bounds up to Kazran and Abigail. “Ready?”

Abigail smiles, starting to sing. She focusses on Sardick, her eyes for him only. 

“Well?” Sardick demands, turning to us. “Well?”

The Doctor hesitates, fiddling with the wires around the half of the screwdriver Abigail is singing into. “Well, the singing resonates in the crystals. It's feeding back and forth between the two halves of the screwdriver. Now, one song, filling the sky. The crystals will align and I'll feed in a controlled phase loop, and the clouds will unlock.”

Kazran, the child, frowns. He looks confused. “What does that mean, unlock? What happens when a cloud unlocks?”

“The clouds have been acting as a kind of barrier, not letting anything out of them after it had been trapped there.” I explain. “The singing should calm them enough to let the spaceship land, saving all those people.” 

“Exactly.” The Doctor leans around me to smile at the boy. “And, you’re going to see something that hasn’t happened in this town for a very long time now.”

And it’s working, Abigail’s singing is actually calming the clouds as we speak. The tension in my back lessens, anxiety pulling back in the face of another miracle. The Doctor turns his smile to me, linking our hands together. “Better?” He asks, voice barely audible. 

I nod, pushing affection and gratefulness in his direction. 

The Doctor’s smile takes on a boyish edge. “And look Mabel, it’s snow on Christmas.” And sure enough, he’s right about that too. 

I love when there’s snow on Christmas day.

My expression is appropriately soppy, I’m sure, because Kazran makes a face at our side. 

“Are you guys going to kiss again?” He asks with all the disgust of a boy who hasn’t hit puberty. 

I laugh softly, mindful of Sardick and Abigail beside us. Not that they have eyes for anyone else right now, but still. “Hmm, I don’t know Doctor. Are we going to kiss?” 

The Doctor’s eyes crinkle at the corners, amusement echoing through our connection. And he does indeed kiss me. 

Kazran makes a noise of disgust. 

Pulling back from the kiss, I enjoy the zing of mischief I can feel from my partner. It’s the little things in life that make it enjoyable, y’know?

“Alright.” The Doctor murmurs, placing a hand on Kazran’s shoulder. “Time to go.” 

One more trip in the Tardis put’s Kazran back in his appropriate time, and then we are back in the present to pick Amy and Rory up. 

In the time we’ve been gone, which at most was twenty minutes, the ground has been completely covered with the snow. The Doctor has fun with it, rushing around and making snowman’s. I, on the other hand, just sit down on a bench and enjoy the moment. 

It only takes another 5 minutes before the Ponds catch up with us.

“Mabel!” “Mabel.” Two separate voices catch my attention. I’m on my feet with my arms thrown around them faster than I actually comprehend moving. 

Amy and Rory hug me in return, a sort of desperation in the movement. “It’s okay now.” I murmur, trying to remove the tension from their backs. 

Amy nods. “Yeah, I knew it would be.” She smiles absentmindedly. “I believed in you.” 

I ruffle her hair, doing the same thing to Rory, ignoring their sounds of disgruntlement. 

“I had something to do with it too!” The Doctor cuts in, his head popping in over my shoulder. 

“Yeah, but out of the two of you, she’s the one who’s most dependable.” Rory responds, a smirk hovering around his lips. 

The Doctor rears back, playfully offended. “Oi! I’ll have you know that I can be dependable.” A frown flits across his face. “Why are you two wearing that?” 

For the first time I notice the fact that Amy is wearing a police woman Halloween costume while Rory is wearing a Roman warrior outfit. 

“Er, kind of lost our luggage.” Rory tries, looking uncomfortable. Even Amy shuffles her feet. “Kind of crash landed?”

“Yeah, but why are you dressed like that at all?” The Doctor continues. 

Honeymoon.

Weird outfits.

It’s my turn to make a face. I’m not ready to think about Amy having sex with Rory. 

Amy looks around, completely ignoring the question like the clever girl she is. “Yeah, they really love their snowmen around here, don't they? I've counted about twenty.”

The Doctor’s face lights up, one of those big gaping smiles coming to his face. “Yeah, I've been busy.”

“Yeah.” Amy laughs, her face softening. She pulls him into a hug. “Yeah, you have. Thank you.” 

“Anytime, Amelia Pond.” The Doctor murmurs. His eyes flicker over to Rory. “And you, Rory Williams.” 

Rory nods in acceptance. “So, got anymore honeymoon ideas?” 

“I think we’ve had more than enough excitement for the night.” I interject before the Doctor can open his mouth. I can feel the babble that’s about to begin. “Why don’t we think of something tomorrow, after some food and sleep.”

“Now that.” Rory states, shifting towards the door. “Sound like a fantastic idea.” 

The three of us watch him enter the Tardis. Once he’s inside, Amy turns towards us. “Are you two okay?” 

“Of course we’re okay.” The Doctor replies, eyeing her. “You?”

“Of course.” Amy hesitates, watching us closely. “It'll be their last day together, won't it?”

I nod. “Yes. But they get to spend it together, and that’s more than most people get.” 

She sighs, shifting in the cold. “I wish we could have done something different.”

“Everything has got to end some time, otherwise nothing would ever get started.” The Doctor offers, a hint of his complicated emotions brushing up against mine. “This might be the last time they will be able to spend together, but it will be that much more precious because of it.”

“Yeah.” Amy murmurs, shaking her head, then turning to enter the Tardis herself.

The Doctor and I are the only ones out here now, in the snow. 

“Halfway out of the dark,” the Doctor murmurs. “Merry Christmas Kazran Sardick.” 

I take his hand, linking our fingers and leaning against his side. He doesn’t look at me, but a hint of a smile touches his lips and his fingers tighten around mine. 

The snows continues to fall around us, blanketing the world with muffled noise. It creates a sort of fairy tale effect. The day is saved, everything is fine now. 

But everything is not fine. There was still one person who was going to die today. 

I do, however, believe that Abigail was more than content to have used her last day like this. Saving the lives of all those people, and then running off to have one last Christmas with the man she’d grown to care for. 

Merry Christmas indeed. 

“Merry Christmas Doctor.” I murmur, resting my head on his shoulder. 

The Doctor presses a kiss to the top of my head, the same bittersweet emotions in my heart reflected back to me from him. “Merry Christmas Mabel.”


	18. Ghosts of the Past (The unquiet dead)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> It’s been…nearly half a year since I updated this story. I know, I know. I just lost my passion for the writing I suppose. I wrote so much, so fast, that I hit a kind of writers block where I didn’t want to touch any sort of writing at all. 
> 
> But I’ve finished my fall semester and I’ve been picking up writing once again. And more importantly, I found my passion for this fandom again. 
> 
> So here is the second to last chapter of this installment. 
> 
> I hope 11,000 words is enough to make up for a 6 month hiatus? (No? yeah, I didn’t think so. >.<) 
> 
> PS. Hope everyone had a fantastic Holiday! 
> 
> -RainingCoffee

The night passes uneventfully, and I finally get a chance to crash after being up nonstop for a week, though I honestly hadn’t felt tired until everything calmed down. Must have been the anxiety over Amy and Rory keeping me going. 

Speaking of Amy and Rory, the Doctor and I drop them off at a planet known for it’s beaches and malls with a full credit chip and instructions to not cause any trouble. 

And then it’s just the Doctor and me, like it usually ends up being. 

It’s nice. 

To spend time with this Doctor, that is. 

There was a level of intimacy to a lot of my interactions with the Doctor, any Doctor, that was true. But this was the Doctor who put in the effort to get me to stay with him. I’d spent over a year of uninterrupted time with this man, and it showed with how comfortable I felt with him.

It wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine either, we had little spats about things like leaving my toothbrush on the wrong side of the sink or how he wasn’t able to cook anything other than breakfast food in this body. Little, stupid things. But infinitely precious. 

And this time, I get to stay for months. Re-learning the in’s and out’s of this Doctor is fulfilling in a way I’d never considered getting to know someone might be. Plus, all those little things that I normally miss out on because I jump around so much, I’m able to experience them in an almost linear fashion. It’s something that I tuck close to my heart. 

But eventually, I have to leave. I feel the heat begin to build up along my feet after nearly three months of being here. 

The Doctor notices immediately, eyes rising from the book he’s reading. 

This time, I don’t really feel the bittersweet jumble of emotions that I had the last time I jumped. I’d spent a lot of time with this Doctor and I was content, if not happy to be jumping away. 

“Don’t forget to give me hell.” The Doctor murmurs, his tone serious. “I’m definitely going to need it.” 

I quirk an eyebrow in confusion, but the world disintegrates around me before I can attempt to get anything else from him. 

The world flows by me, a fog obscuring everything, and then I’m somewhere new. My hearing is the first thing to come back. I can hear the sounds of the Tardis console room, but I can’t see it just yet. 

Our connection cringes in pain again, but instead of slotting neatly into place with the Doctor of this time period it kind of just curls into itself? 

I wince, headache already beating behind my eyes. Eyes which can finally see again. The console room doesn’t really tell me much, I know it’s either the 9th or the 10th Doctor I had jumped to, but the rooms were so similar that I’d be hard pressed to tell you which one I actually jumped to. 

No one was there. The lights were even dimmed. 

“Hey old girl, can you tell me where everyone is?” I murmur, touching the side of her console. 

She hums, her front doors opening. 

Outside huh. “Thanks dear.” 

The Tardis chimes, the sound happy. She’s pleased to have helped in some way. But her hum changes when I take a step towards the door, more of a scold. 

I look up, confused. “What?”

Her lights dim more, a series of lights along the trim at the bottom of the wall lighting up and creating a clear pathway for me to follow. What can I do but let her lead me? 

The pathway ends at our bedroom, lights focusing on a dress on the top of our bed. It’s a gorgeous Tardis blue, clearly Victorian in style.

I raise an eyebrow at the ceiling and get the equivalent of a raspberry in response. 

Okay then. 

For fear of being scolded again, I put the dress on. And twist my hair into some semblance of an updo. And brush just the slightest bit of makeup on. 

All to make the Tardis happier of course. 

She flickers the lights at that thought, but I just smirk. 

Once finished, I head out in search of my wayward partner. It’s not actually all that hard to find him, I just follow the screaming. 

My feet thank me for picking sensible shoes as I start running towards the noise. There is a flash of blonde hair from around the corner, two people picking up an unresponsive third person. 

That hair is familiar to me. In fact, I’m fairly certain it’s Rose.

“Oi!” I shout, incensed. “Put that girl down!”

The man griping at Rose’s shoulders sends me a panicked look, but doesn’t stop what he’s doing. Neither, for the matter, does the woman holding her legs. 

I’m a fast runner, but even I’m not fast enough to get to the carriage before they manage to put her in it and start clopping away. 

“Rose!” The Doctor yells, rushing out of the building next to me. 

I point at the carriage that’s steadily moving away from us. “She’s in the hearse.” 

The Doctor glances at me, murmuring his thanks. His doubletake after that, is quite frankly, insulting. “Mabel?”

“Yes, hello Doctor. No time for catching up, companion in danger!” I narrow my eyes at his slack jawed expression. 

A man comes out of the building, rounding on my partner. “You're not escaping me, sir. What do you know about that hobgoblin, hmm? Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it?”

The Doctor shakes his head, wide eyed expression disappearing. “Yeah, mate. Not now, thanks.” He grabs my hand, rushing up to the carriage in front of us and addressing the driver. “Oi, you! Follow that hearse!”

“I can't do that, sir.” The driver states, glancing behind us. 

I narrow my eyes at him. “And why not?”

“I'll tell you why not.” The man that was yelling at the Doctor earlier comes up, his temper in full force. “I'll give you a very good reason why not. Because this is my coach.”

The Doctor gives him a blistering look. “Well get in then.” The man doesn’t do anything. “Move!”

And finally, the man does indeed move, jumping into the carriage at last. The driver cracks a whip, the horses responding to the sound instantly. 

“Come on, you’re losing them.” The Doctor scolds. 

The driver looks back uncertainly. “Everything in order, Mister Dickens?”

Wait.

Hold on a minute. 

“No! It is not!” Dickens looks at the two of us suspiciously. 

“Wait, hold on. Before you go on. Did he say Dickens?” I can’t help but ask, leaning forward in interest. 

Dickens frowns. “Yes?” 

“Charles Dickens?” The Doctor reiterates. 

“Yes.” Charles Dickens responds, looking even less enthusiastic about us being in his carriage then he had before. 

The Doctor shakes his head. “The Charles Dickens?”

“Should I remove them, sir?” The Driver asks, turning to look at us again. 

“Charles Dickens?” The Doctor smiles, all big ears and enthusiasm. “You're brilliant, you are. Completely one hundred percent brilliant. I've read them all. Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and what's the other one, the one with the ghost?”

Dickens face, which had gotten increasingly friendlier as the Doctor talked, broke into a slight smile. “A Christmas Carol?”

“No, no, no, the one with the trains. The Signal Man, that's it.” The Doctor leans back in his seat. “Terrifying! The best short story ever written. You're a genius.”

“You want me to get rid of them, sir?” The driver asks again. 

“Er, no,” Dickens hesitates. “I think they can stay.”

“As much as I’d love to keep talking about this, there are more important things to consider.” I interject mildly, recognizing that look on the Doctor’s face and wanting to stop it before it devolves into an epic ramble where he puts his foot in his mouth. 

“Yes, you’re right.” The Doctor leans forward, raising his voice. “Faster!”

Dickens frowns, eye flickering between the two of us. “Who exactly is in that hearse?” 

“Our friend. She’s only nineteen.” The Doctor pauses for a second. “It's my fault. She's in my care, and now she's in danger.”

“Why are we wasting my time talking about dry old books? This is much more important.” Dickens snaps, leaning forward immediately and raising his voice. “Driver, be swift! The chase is on!”

“Yes, sir!” The driver calls back, doing something to put on a burst of speed. 

“Attaboy, Charlie.” The Doctor smiles. 

Dickens narrows his eyes at my wayward partner. “Nobody calls me Charlie.”

The Doctor raises a disbelieving eyebrow in response. “The ladies do.”

The two second pause before Dickens responds is enough to tell me the Doctor is right. “How do you know that?”

The Doctor shoots a cheeky grin in Dickens direction, before his eyes flicker in my direction. “I'm your number one fan.” 

“Number one fan?” Dickens mutters, frowning at the two of us. 

Thankfully the carriage stops before I have to come up with another quick save. “It seems we’re here.” 

Dickens jumps up immediately, opening the door. The Doctor follows before I can even manage to get to me feet. I’m really not used to wearing a dress like this and it clearly shows in how unpracticed I am with moving in one. 

The Doctor is nice enough to wait for me though, offering a hand for me to use for help in exiting the carriage. It’s help that I gladly take. 

With said help, I’m out of the door and on my way up the short walkway to the house of the man who kidnapped our companion in less than a minute. I knock on the door with force, tapping a foot in impatience. 

There is muffled conversation in the hallway beyond but I can’t make out what exactly is being said. I can, however, clearly hear the quiet conversation behind me. 

“Is she always like this?” Dickens asks, his voice low. 

The Doctor laughs softly. “Oh yes.” 

The door opens before I get a chance to retaliate. A young woman stands in the doorway in a maid’s garb. The woman also happens to be one of the people who had a hold of Rose earlier. 

“I'm sorry, ma’am.” The woman inclines her head in false deference. “We're closed.”

Dickens pushes past me. “Nonsense. Since when did an Undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master.”

“He's not in, sir.” The woman says, trying to close the door. 

“Don't lie to me, child.” Dickens scolds, hand smacking into the door to keep it open. “Summon him at once.”

“I'm awfully sorry, Mister Dickens.” The woman is visibly taken aback, though she manages to bounce back quick. “But the master's indisposed.” 

Behind her one of the light’s flare up. 

“Having trouble with your gas?” The Doctor chimes in.

“What the Shakespeare is going on?” Dickens mutters, staring at the gas lamp as well. 

“That’s a fantastic question.” I murmur, stepping into the house and going up to the lamp. The Doctor is right behind me. 

“You're not allowed inside, please-“ The woman tries, but we both ignore her. 

There’s something there, a sort of whispering. I lean closer to the wall and sure enough the noise gets louder. 

“The gas pipes.” The Doctor’s eyes find mine. “Something's living inside the gas.”

Ominous, and somewhat creepy. I open my mouth to say that very thing, but a familiar voice interrupts me. 

“Open the door!” Rose calls from somewhere farther into the house. 

“That’s her!” The Doctor says, probably to the others. I’m already halfway down the hallway, waiting for another noise to tell me the specific door. 

A man, the man who I’d last seen holding onto Rose as he put her into a carriage, rounds the corner, hands coming up to stop me from going any further. “How dare you! This is my hou-“

I dodge him neatly, not even bothering with a comment. The last door on the left shakes, like someone is trying to open it. “Please, please, let me out!” The door handle is locked. The unpleasant man behind us probably has the key. “Let me out! Somebody open the door!”

Darting in front of me, the Doctor does one thing that I’ve never actually seen him do before. 

He kicks in the door. 

There is a man holding onto Rose, his hand over her mouth. I surge forward, grabbing her and stepping out of the way of the hands that reach out in retaliation. There is an old woman, and a young man. But they look strange. 

“It's a prank. It must be.” Dickens mutters behind us. “We're under some mesmeric influence.”

“No, we're not. The dead are walking.” The Doctor states, which what? He then turns to direct a smile Rose’s way. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Rose murmurs, breathing a little harsh. She nods at me, her attention slipping behind me to find the others. “Who's your friend?”

“Charles Dickens.” The Doctor answers without looking back at her. 

Rose doesn’t miss a beat. “Okay.” 

“My name's the Doctor.” The Doctor states, directing the words to the apparently undead people in front of us. “Who are you, then? What do you want?”

“Failing.” The man says. There is a haunting wail that follows his voice, like an aftereffect. Even as the aftereffect starts it coalesces into something that sounds remarkably like a child. “Open the rift. We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us” 

In unison, both the old woman and the young man arch their head towards the ceiling. This sort of unearthly wail emanates from nowhere as a blue light erupts from their bodies. It only lasts a second and when the blue light dissipates, the two bodies fall to the ground. 

I exchange a rather wide eyed look of confusion with the Doctor. “That was new.” 

He smiles, eyes flashing. “But you can’t deny it’s interesting.”

Fair enough, I have to give him that. 

Dickens turns around, getting into the man who kidnapped Rose’s face. “Are you going to explain any of this nonsense?” 

The man puffs up like he’s going to argue. Which, we can’t really have that can we? “Yes, I’d like an explanation too. As well as an apology for our friend that you kidnapped.” 

The woman who was wearing a maid’s outfit neatly takes control of the situation. “If you would all retire to the sitting room, I’ll make a pot of tea and you can discuss the issue there.” 

The master of the house deflates. “Oh, alright. Follow me.” 

So we do, following him down the hallway to a room right off the entrance way. Several gas fixtures flicker slightly as we move by. The flame reacting to us walking by? Or maybe whatever it was in the gas pipes that the Doctor mentioned earlier?

There isn’t exactly time to think about that though, at least not without more facts. 

“Now really Mr. Sneed, I must insist that you tell us what’s going on at once.” Dickens states, crossing his arms and glaring through his facial hair. 

Sneed slumps down into an armchair. “Can we not wait for the tea?” 

The two bicker back and forth, but I’m not as focused on the conversation as I probably should be. My headache is still there, and the longer I go separated from the Doctor the worse it’s gotten. Is this what my partner goes through every time I’m not here? If so, I suddenly feel a hundred times worse for teasing bow tie about missing me for a week. 

The Doctor frowns down at me. “What’s the matter?” 

“It’s nothing.” I murmur, shaking my head slightly. “Just a headache.”

For a second, the lines around his eyes deepen in confusion, but then his whole being jolts. Our connection lights up, the Doctor’s side open once again. 

My headache immediately disappears, and I can’t help but close my eyes briefly in relief. 

By the time I open them again the Doctor in giving me one of those looks. The one that says I’m about to get a lecture. He opens his mouth and –“Mabel! You should have told me to open up!” 

I shrug, somewhat immune to his scolding at this point. “I didn’t know if you had it closed for a reason.” 

“For a reason? No-I just..” The Doctor loses some of his righteous steam. “I’m not entirely used to the fact that you’re here again.” 

Oh Doctor. I lean against his shoulder, trying to send as much support and affection as I can. Sometimes it really sucks that he has to keep information from me to protect the timeline. I know that this regeneration had just come from a war but that was about it. He refuses to say anything more whenever I ask him, and I didn’t feel that it was my right to push that. 

But there wasn’t time to get into deep personal issues anyways. Rose, who was visibly fuming, finally erupts. She whirls around, pointing a finger at..I think Dickens said his name was Sneed? “And you, I have a bone to pick with you!”

Sneed leans back, looking almost comically offended. “Now look here young l-“

“First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me.” Rose snaps, cutting him off. “And don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man.”

“I won't be spoken to like this!” Sneed puffs up, trying to look angry. It’s easy to see that he’s just scared.

Rose is on a roll though, and pays no attention to his bluster. “Then you stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave me to die! So come on, talk!”

“It's not my fault.” Sneed snaps back, sour look deepening. “It's this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs, the er, dear departed started getting restless.”

“Tommyrot.” Dickens scoffs. 

Sneed shakes his head. “You witnessed it. Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps.” 

Gwyneth comes over and places two cups of tea on the mantelpiece beside us. “Two sugars sir, a sugar and a cream ma’am, just how the two of you like it.” 

I smile at her, somewhat bemused. A quick glance at the Doctor shows that he’s likely thinking the same thing that I am. She shouldn’t know our tea preferences. 

“One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service.” Sneed nods as if the gesture will further emphasize his words. “Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned.”

“Morbid fancy.” Dickens scoffs.

“Oh, Charles.” The Doctor shakes his head. “You were there.”

Dickens sniffs, standing up and taking a step closer to the Doctor. “I saw nothing but an illusion.”

“If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up.” The Doctor tells him, apparently not having the patience to deal with the man. How quickly one goes from fanboying to dismissing. 

It’s clear that Dickens is offended, if the way he puffs up is any indication. Time to head this off before they pull out their dicks and start to measure. “The Doctor is right, something is obviously happening here. Sneed, anything else you can tell us. What about the gas? It was flickering in a strange way earlier.” 

“That’s new ma’am, I’ve never seen anything like that.” Sneed tells me, Victorian manners assuring I get a polite response. 

The Doctor hmms. “Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through.” 

Rose looks between us. “What's the rift?”

I shrug, but the Doctor answers her. “A weak point in time and space. A connection between this place and another.” He shrugs as well. “That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time.” 

“That's how I got the house so cheap. Stories going back generations.” Sneed nods, turning towards the Doctor. 

Dickens has had enough of being ignored it seems, as he sidles his way out of the room. Though like a child throwing a tantrum, he makes sure to slam the door behind him. 

Sneed flinches slightly, but continues. “Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul.” His expression changes then, becomes something a little less meek. “Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine.” 

I can’t help but smile at that. Maybe Sneed is all right after all. 

“I’m going to head off after Charles, talk to him.” The Doctor murmurs. The words are low, and it’s very likely that no one else can hear them. “Stay here, keep an eye on things.” 

“Got it.” There isn’t much else to say honestly, and I don’t mind staying with the girls and Sneed. Maybe I can find out something about Gwyneth in the process. 

Unfortunately, right after the Doctor leaves to go after Dickens, Rose and Gwyneth break off as well. I now have a choice between leaving Sneed alone or going after the girls. And to be honest, I like the girls much better then Sneed. 

So I follow the girls. 

Gwyneth leads us to a small room that seems to be a pantry, though I see that it also doubles as a cleaning area if the small tub of water in the corner is any indication. The girl lights one of the gas lights, while Rose goes over to the wash bucket. 

And because it’s Rose, she picks up the washcloth to start cleaning the dishes. I’m starting to like this companion, at least from what I’ve seen of her. 

“Please, miss, you shouldn't be helping.” Gwyneth hurries over to the basin herself. “It's not right.”

“Don't be daft. Sneed works you to death.” Rose laughs. But Gwyneth is serious and after a few seconds Rose seems to get that, and she gives Gwyneth the washcloth. 

Rose shifts, seemingly uncomfortable now that she doesn’t have anything in her hands. “So, how much do you get paid?” 

“Rose!” I scold, standing straight from the wall I had been leaning on while watching them interact. “Don’t be rude.” 

“It’s fine ma’am. I don’t mind.” Gwyneth states, a pleased smile twitching at the corner of her lips. “Mr. Sneed pays me eight pound a year, miss.” 

Rose, who had slumped at my scold, regains some of her energy to gape at Gwyneth. “How much?” 

“I know.” Gwyneth leans in a bit. “I would've been happy with six.” 

“So long as you’re content with it, that’s all the matters.” I tell her before Rose can say anything else. Gwyneth nods, turning back to the basin to start washing the dishes again. “If you don’t mind though, is it okay if I ask you a question?” 

“Of course ma’am.” Gwyneth states, finishing her dish and turning to me expectantly. 

“You knew exactly how the Doctor and I took our tea.” I state, and watch closely as Gwyneth faces closes down, her whole body kind of hunching in on itself. “I’m not mad Gwyneth, I just wanted to know if you could tell me how you knew.”

“I can’t help it ma’am. Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it.” Gwyneth tells me, shaking her head like she can somehow change it. 

“Hey, it’s okay. Sounds like you have a gift.” I smile at the girl, but she shakes her head once again. 

“I see so much ma’am.” Gwyneth focuses on me, a new strength in her eyes. “A city, like I’ve never seen before. I seen pictures of London, but what I see in you is nothing like that.” 

She’s seeing the modern day world, I realize with a start. The Doctor touches up against my mind, a question in his emotions. I send back a wave of what I hope is ‘everything is okay’, as well as a healthy dose of caution. 

He sends back what is most assuredly an eye roll, and a sense of frustrated amusement. It couldn’t have been any clearer that he was saying ‘why is it always you?’. 

“But that’s not all.” Gwyneth continues. Her Victorian manners have taken a backseat it seems. “There are worlds in your mind that can’t be possible. With creatures that shouldn’t exist. And then there is you. You shouldn’t exist in this world.” 

This…is not the first time someone has said this to me. “What do you mean I shouldn’t exist?” 

Gwyneth tilts her head to the side, studying me. It’s almost as if it isn’t her looking at me anymore, but someone else. “There are many worlds, this is just one of them. But you were not originally from this world. They made it so you were, though. Changed the very fabric of reality to make sure you existed.” 

“Gwyneth, how do you know this?” I’m unsettled now, deeply unsettled. The words she is speaking are true, the atoms in the air are humming with it. “I thought you could only see what was in my mind?” Cause I don’t know what she is speaking about. 

But it seems as if whatever was using Gwyneth to speak is no longer using her. She frowns, one hand coming up to cradle her face as if she has a headache. “Sorry ma’am, I missed what you just said.” 

The Doctor comes into the room at a fast walk, eyes flickering to me to see what was wrong. I shake my head, not wanting to get into it right now. “You were just explaining about your gift. The one that let’s you see things that most people can’t.” 

“Like I said ma’am, I’ve had it all my life.” Gwyneth states, looking down at the ground. 

“The tea.” The Doctor states more than asks, I nod slightly. He focuses back on Gwyneth. “But it's getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?”

Gwyneth nods. Her hand comes up and taps against her head. “All the time, sir. Every night, voices in my head.”

“You grew up on top of the rift.” The Doctor states. I can feel him cobbling a plan together. “You're part of it. You're the key.”

“I've tried to make sense of it, sir.” She continues, almost ashamed now. “Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts.”

“Well, that should help. You can show us what to do.” The Doctor tells her. 

Show us what to do? He isn’t thinking of doing what I think he’s going to do is he? 

Gwyneth frowns at him. “What to do where, sir?”

The Doctor smiles, all teeth. “We’re going to have a séance.” 

My face does something odd, I can feel it. “A séance?” 

“Don’t give me that look!” The Doctor pouts. Pouts! He’s a grown man for god’s sake. 

I raise an eyebrow. “And just what is a séance going to do?” 

The Doctor shoo’s us out of the room. “Hopefully it’ll let us talk to whoever we were talking to earlier so we can get some answers.”

It seems as if he’s already gathered everyone anyways, as Sneed and Dickens wait for us around a table in the dining room. 

“Alright! Time to get this show on the road.” The Doctor claps his hands, going to sit down in one of the chairs. I sit next to him, and Rose takes the one next to me. Gwyneth sits at the only space left. 

Dickens frowns out at the table. “What show?” 

“This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town.” Gwyneth states, ignoring his question. I have a feeling that the need to get answers is overpowering her need to be polite. “Come, we must all join hands.”

He must finally clue into what is about to happen, because Dickens sputters, standing up from his chair. “I can't take part in this.”

The Doctor rolls his eyes. “Humbug? Come on, open mind.”

“This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask.” Dickens hisses, puffing up like a bird. “ Séances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees.” He gestures at Gwyneth. “This girl knows nothing.”

“I’d watch your tone.” I tell him, my voice gone cold. “You might not want to believe in this, but that girl has done nothing to deserve your harsh words. Or your slights to her gender.” 

Dickens gapes at me, turning to look at the Doctor as if that will change anything. 

The Doctor raises his hands in supplication. “Now don’t look at me like that, I happen to agree with her.” But he does send a wave of emotion that would roughly translate to ‘down girl’ in my direction. “However, we have a séance to get to, so I wouldn’t antagonize Gwyneth. Happy Mediums are better than angry mediums.”

Rose shakes her head. “I can’t believe you just said that.” 

The Doctor give her a smile, before focusing on Dickens once more. “Come on now, we might need you.”

He lets out a deep breath of air, but Dickens sits once again, joining hands with Gwyneth on one side and Sneed on the other. 

“Good man.” The Doctor tells him, then turns to Gwyneth. “Now, Gwyneth, reach out.”

Gwyneth takes a deep breath of her own. “Speak to us.” The gas lights behind her start to flicker. And very faintly, I can almost hear the whispers again. “Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden.”

“Can you hear that?” Rose murmurs, looking around the table. She must be able to hear the whispers now too. 

“Nothing can happen.” Dickens scoffs, leaning in. “This is sheer folly.” 

But he’s wrong. Gwyneth has tilted her head back now. It’s clear she’s focusing on something that no one else can see. 

Rose must notice what I’m seeing, because she gestures at Gwyneth. “Look at her!”

“I see them.” Gwyneth states, rocking back and forth slightly. “I feel them.”

Gas starts to pull away from the lanterns. The blue streaks dance through the air, bringing with them more whispers. 

It’s saying something, whatever it is, something about a rift. 

“What’s it saying?” Rose asks, glancing at the Doctor. 

“They can't get through the rift.” He replies, immediately turning to face Gwyneth. “Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through.”

“I can't!” Gwyneth cries, still staring up at the gas. 

“Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link.” The Doctor insists. And I of all people know just what the Doctor’s belief can drive you to. 

Gwyneth nods. “Yes.” She closes her eyes, and when she next opens them her posture is completely different. 

This is not Gwyneth anymore. The blue figures that coalesce behind her only further corroborate that. 

“Great God!” Sneed exclaims, looking frightened. “Spirits from the other side.”

The Doctor smiles. “The other side of the universe.” He turns that smile on me then, but I am only able to give him a weak one in return. 

I don’t like this situation. Something doesn’t feel right. 

“Pity us.” Gwyneth speaks, but her voice is layered with the voice of children. “Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us.”

“What do you want us to do?” The Doctor asks. He’s not suspicious at all, I can feel that he isn’t. 

“The rift. Take the girl to the rift.” The Gelth murmurs. “Make the bridge.”

“What do you need a bridge for?” I ask, since no one else seems to find anything odd with this. 

The Gelth turn to face me, and just for a second, a split second, their whole form flickers red. “We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction.”

“Why?” The Doctor cuts in. “What happened?” 

“Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came.” The Gelth states, turning back to the Doctor. 

There is a pang, from the part of me connected to the Doctor. 

“War?” Dickens frowns. “What war?” 

“The Time War.” The Gelth answer. Of course. What other war would they be talking about. “The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state.” 

The Doctor leans in, hooked. “So that’s why you need the corpses.” I can tell with the way his entire focus is on them that he’s going to do everything in his power to make this happen. 

But something isn’t right. And he isn’t seeing that. 

“Just how many corpses would you need?” I interject, eyes focused on the Gelth. 

This time they don’t even bother turning to face me, they just continue talking to the Doctor as if I hadn’t said anything. “We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us.”

“But we can't.” Rose states, so certain in her claim.

The Doctor turns to look at her. “Why not?”

“It's not.” Rose hesitates, shaking her head. “I mean, it's not-“

“Not decent? Not polite?” The Doctor asks, derision in his voice, and in his emotions. “It could save their lives.”

“Before we do anything, we need more information on this.” I speak up, not liking the situation. It smells like a trap, but the Doctor doesn’t seem to be picking up on it. 

“Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth.” The blue form speaks one last time before fading back into Gwyneth. She slumps onto the table, unconscious. 

Rose rises from her seat, placing a hand on Gwyneth’s shoulder. “Gwyneth?”

“All true.” Dickens mutters, sitting back in his seat. “It's all true.” 

The Doctor meets my eyes with his own, mind already set. I purse my lip but let it go, for now. 

Gwyneth doesn’t seem to be waking up so once everyone has gotten over their shock, we move her to the chaise lounge, away from the table. 

“We need her to open up the pathway again.” The Doctor states, getting up to pace. 

Rose looks up from patting a wet washcloth across Gwyneth’s forehead, a glare on her face. “Leave her alone, she hasn’t even woken up from the first time yet.” 

But Gwyneth is awake now, eyes flickering open. 

“It’s all right.” Rose tells her, gently pushing at her chest so that she will stay laying down. “You just sleep.” 

“But my angels, miss.” Gwyneth protests, her voice weak. “They came, didn't they? They need me?”

“They do need you, Gwyneth.” The Doctor jumps in immediately. “You're they're only chance of survival.” 

“We don’t know if it’s the only way. We haven’t checked if there are other ways yet.” I cut in, voice sharp. 

Rose seems to be with me on this one, turning to glare at the Doctor once again. “I've told you, leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles.” She turns back to Gwyneth, placing a glass of something in her hand. “Drink this.”

The Doctor rolls his eyes, his frustration beating against the weak barriers of my mind. 

“Well, what did you say, Doctor?” Sneed asks. “You said they were visitors from the other side of the universe. But how. Explain it again. What are they?”

“Aliens.” The Doctor responds, the word sharp and tense. 

Sneed tilts his head in confusion. “Like foreigners, you mean?”

The Doctor nods, some of his frustration falling away in exchange for what I call his teaching voice. “Pretty foreign, yeah.” He says, pointing up at the ceiling. “From up there.”

“Brecon?” Sneed asks him. 

…Well I suppose you can’t expect a man from the 1800’s to get the concept of aliens being from outer space on the first try. 

“Close.” The Doctor replies, the liar. “And they've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes.”

“Which is why they need the girl.” Dickens states. He is turning out to be quite the intuitive man. 

“They're not having her.” Rose interjects, her chin going up in defiance. Gwyneth has found a good protector in this companion it seems. 

The Doctor takes a deep breath. “But she can help. Living on the rift, she's become part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge and let them through.”

“Incredible.” Dickens laughs, looking bemused. “Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers.”

“It’s a good system. It might even work.” The Doctor nods, ignoring the incredulity of everyone in the room. 

“You can't let them run around inside of dead people.” Rose states, looking upset. 

“Why not? It's like recycling.” The Doctor replies, his tone flippant.

His emotions on the other hand, are anything but. He’s seriously wanting to do this. 

Rose rolls her eyes. “Seriously though, you can't.”

The Doctor’s voice loses some of its flippancy. “Seriously though, I can.” 

“It's just wrong.” Rose hesitates. I nod at her from around the Doctor’s shoulder and she seems to gain some of her confidence back. “Those bodies were living people. We should respect them even in death.”

“Do you carry a donor card?” The Doctor asks her, voice sharp now. 

“That's different.” Rose states. “That's-“

“It is different, yeah. It's a different morality.” The Doctor cuts in, no hint of sympathy in his face. “Get used to it or go home.”

“And that’s quite enough of that.” I interject, not liking the way that Rose recoils from him. 

He turns to me, already shaking his head. “No, not a word out of you either. You’re too young to understand properly.” 

It stings, those words, somewhere deep inside of me. But I promised to try, so instead of recoiling myself, I take a step forward into the Doctor personal space. He isn’t expecting it, and I can see a hint of something other than apathy in his expression for the first time the entire conversation. “Leave my age out of this, just because you don’t want someone to argue with you doesn’t mean that you get to lash out and hit at places that you know will hurt.” 

“We don’t have time to argue.” The Doctor responds, rolling his eyes. “You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying.”

“This practically tastes like a trap.” I hiss, fed up with the whole thing. Let him listen to me or not, at least I got a chance to warn him. “I don’t know why you aren’t cluing into that, but it does.” 

The Doctor sighs, reaching out and cupping my head with his hands. “Mabel, it’s not a trap. It’s just someone who needs help.” 

“I don't care. They're not using her.” Rose lifts her chin in defiance. 

“Don't I get a say, miss?” Gwyneth speaks up, her decision already written all over her face. 

I close my eyes against it, stepping back from the Doctor’s touch. It’s somewhat a startling realization, that even though the Doctor is open and I can perceive his emotions, his mind is entirely closed off to me. I can’t tell why he’s making these decisions. 

By the time I focus back into the conversation, Gwyneth has already stated her intent to open the bridge once more and the Doctor is bustling us all off to the morgue. Something about it being the weakest area between our location and wherever the Gelth are being held in the rift. 

It takes less than a minute for us to reach the room. The sight of the dead bodies resting under stark white sheets is unsettling, just like the dark atmosphere of the morgue itself. 

“Urgh. Talk about Bleak House.” The Doctor looks around the room with a theatrical shudder. 

“The thing is, Doctor, the Gelth don't succeed, 'cos I know they don't. I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869.” Rose tries again. 

“Time's in flux, changing every second. Your cozy little world can be rewritten like that.” The Doctor snaps his fingers. “Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing.”

So charming. 

“The Doctor is right. If the Gelth come through now it can rewrite history as you know it.” I explain, patting her shoulder. She gives me a wide eyed look in return. 

“Doctor, I think the room is getting colder.” Dickens states, looking around the room nervously. 

And he’s right. The gas coalesces once again, blue streaks darting across the room. A large cloud of it manifests under an archway, forming the human like form like it had earlier. 

“You've come to help. Praise the Doctor.” The Gelth states, its voice is still that of a young child. “Praise him.”

“Promise you won't hurt her.” Rose demands. She’s fierce as a lion. 

The Gelth ignores her. “Hurry! Please, so little time. Pity the Gelth.”

“Doctor.” I murmur, grabbing his hand to stop him from moving forward. “I don’t like this.” 

He squeezes my hand in return, placing a kiss on my knuckles before stepping forward like I hadn’t been trying to stop him from doing it. “I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer.” The Doctor tells the Gelth. “Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, all right?”

“My angels.” Gwyneth smiles. “I can help them live.” 

The Doctor nods at her. “Okay, where's the weak point?”

“Here, beneath the arch.” The Gelth states. 

Gwyneth hurries over, standing right underneath the manifestation of the Gelth. 

Rose takes a step forward. “You don't have to do this.”

“They are my angels, miss.” Gwyneth tells her. 

“Establish the bridge.” The Gelth insist. “Reach out to the void. Let us through!”

“Yes, I can see you.” Gwyneth cries, head tilting back once more. “I can see you. Come!”

The Gelth smiles, or what I assume is a smile. “Bridgehead establishing.” 

“Come to me. Come to this world, poor lost souls!” Gwyneth continues.

“It is begun. The bridge is made.” The Gelth cries, triumph in its childlike voice. 

Gwyneth opens her mouth, and streams of blue gas pour out. There is a look of surprise there, of fear, before the expression is wiped away into blankness. 

Something twangs, in the back of my mind. Something has been broken. I have a horrible idea that it’s Gwyneth. 

“Gwyneth?” I call out, leaning forward.

A sort of malevolent glee transfers through the air from the Gelth. “She has given herself to the Gelth. The bridge is open. We descend.”

Dammit. 

Dammit, dammit, dammit. Why did I have to be right? 

The blue glow of the Gelth deepens, turning a strange red color. Even it’s voice changes, losing the tone of a child and gaining something deeper. And more sinister. “The Gelth will come through in force.”

Dickens shakes his head. “You said that you were few in number.”

“A few billion.” One would think that a disembodied voice wouldn’t be able to sneer, but it comes across clear as day. “And all of us in need of corpses.”

There is a pang of hurt from the part of my mind dedicated to the Doctor, but I don’t have time to address it right now. 

“Gwyneth, stop this.” Sneed tries, taking a step towards the girl in the arch. “Listen to your master. This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone, I beg of you-“

I lunge for him, already seeing the Gelth in a human suit coming up from behind him, but I’m to late. The corpse snaps the man’s neck before I get within two feet of him. Immediately, another Gelth pours itself into Sneed’s mouth. The man gets up, the same otherworldly cast over his features that the other cadavers seem to take on when a Gelth take them over. 

“I think it's gone a little bit wrong.” The Doctor states. 

“You think?” I mutter under my breath. A quick step backwards is joined by another, and another as the Gelth advance on us. 

“I have joined the legions of the Gelth.” The Gelth in Sneed’s body tells us. “Come, march with us.”

Dickens shakes his head. “No, this isn’t happening.” 

“I suggest you keep out of their reach if you don’t want to end up like Sneed, Mr. Dickens.” I tell the man, making sure to follow my own advice. Dickens hugs the outside of the room, inching his way towards the door. 

Smart man. 

“We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead.” Sneed continues. 

“Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back now!” The Doctor tries. 

He tries, but it doesn’t work. 

“Three more bodies. Convert them. Make them vessels for the Gelth.” The main Gelth, the one in the archway, instructs. 

Sneed’s body starts walking towards the Doctor, Rose and I, we take steps back in return until our backs hit a wall. It’s clear that we are the ones to be converted. 

From across the room, Dickens shakes his head. “I can't. I'm sorry. This new world of yours is too much for me. I'm so-“ But he doesn’t finish, darting out of the open door to his right. 

Well, at least one of us is going to get out of here alive. 

The Doctor turns around, facing the wall, which doesn’t seem to actually be a wall at all actually. It’s a gate, and he quickly opens it so we can go through. 

The bad news is that it’s just a gate to a side room and not a way out. But, I think as I slam the gate closed behind us, at least the Gelth won’t be able to snap our necks this way. 

“Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth.” The Gelth state. 

All the bodies in the morgue have risen up now, collecting around the outside of the gate, theirs arms reaching through like one of those zombie horror movies. 

“I trusted you.” The Doctor snarls. “I pitied you!”

“We don't want your pity.” All the bodies say as one. “We want this world and all it's flesh.”

“Yeah well, you’re going to have to go through me first.” I tell them. 

“And me.” The Doctor states, hand reaching down to clasp mine. 

I link our fingers, squeezing his hand hard. 

The Gelth snarl. “Then live no more.” 

“But I can't die.” Rose states, her voice rising when neither of us say anything. “Tell me I can't. I haven't even been born yet. It's impossible for me to die. Isn't it?”

“I’m sorry Rose, it doesn’t work that way.” I tell her, voice as gentle as I can make it. 

The Doctor slumps beside me, his large frame hunching in on itself. “I’m so sorry.”

“But it's 1869.” Rose looks at me, then at Doctor. “How can I die now?”

“Time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth and it's all my fault.” The Doctor murmurs. “I brought you here.”

Rose shakes her head, clearly not pleased, but in the end not taking it out on us. “It's not your fault. I wanted to come.”

The Doctor turns to me. “I’m sorry Mabel, I brought you into this.” 

“Eh.” I scoff into his face, taking an inordinate amount of pleasure from the way he blinks at me in confusion. “I choose my own fate, don’t put my decisions on you. I made the choice to follow you, even if it led me to my death.” 

“But this is not where you’re supposed to die.” He closes his eyes against whatever he sees in my face. “I’ve changed everything by this.” 

“It's not just dying though.” Rose states, determinedly looking forwards. “We'll become one of them.”

“If they succeed in killing us, probably yes.” I turn to look at her, my lips tilting up into a half smile despite myself. 

She matches my half smile with one of her own. “Well, I’m not going to take that lying down.” 

I reach out, taking her hand in my free one. “Going out fighting then?” 

“Of course.” Rose answers, facing the Gelth once more. 

There are footsteps from the hallway, fast ones. I frown over at the Doctor and he nods. He hears them too it seems. 

Then, to my surprise, Dickens runs into the room. “Doctor! Doctor! Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it, now!” 

“What're you doing?” The Doctor asks in disbelief. 

Dickens lunges for the gas lantern against the wall, turning it off until the flame goes out and then turning it back on so the gas is still flooding the room. “Turn it all on. Flood the place!”

“Brilliant.” The Doctor breathes. “Gas.”

“What’s brilliant?” I ask, eyes flickering between the Gelth at the door who are slowly turning to face Dickens and the man at my side. 

“Doesn’t seem brilliant to me, what, we choke to death instead?” Rose scoffs, frowning at the Doctor’s growing smile. 

“Am I correct, Doctor? These creatures are gaseous.” Dickens states, bringing up a handkerchief to cover his mouth as he coughs. 

“Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host.” The Doctor explains, his smile all teeth. “Suck them into the air like poison from a wound! Good job Charlie boy!”

The corpses approach Dickens, and he takes a nervous step backwards. “I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately.”

“Oh there’s plenty more where that came from.” The Doctor states, taking his hand from mine to rip a pipe out of the wall. More gas immediately fills the room, direct from the source as it were. 

The bodies immediately stop moving, and an ethereal scream fills the room. The Gelth are being drawn from the dead bodies! It’s working!

“It's working.” Dickens nods, coughing into his handkerchief again. He looks pleased. 

Now that the dead bodies aren’t walking around it’s safe to open the gate back up. I’m the first one out, but the Doctor and Rose follow right after me. 

The Doctor stops in front of Gwyneth. “Gwyneth, send them back. They lied. They're not angels.”

“Liars?” She asks, voice faint. 

“Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!” The Doctor insists. 

Rose coughs from behind us, another following right after. “I can’t breathe.” 

The Doctor gives her a nudge towards Dickens. “Charles, get her out.”

But Rose shakes off the hand on her shoulder immediately. “No, I’m not leaving her.” 

“Rose, I have it.” I tell her. She frowns at me for several long seconds, then nods. I look at Dickens. “Get her out of her, please.” 

Dickens nods at me, hand curling around Rose’s arm, and then the two of them are gone from the room. 

“They're too strong.” Gwyneth states, staring at us without blinking. In fact, I haven’t seen her blink once since she entered the archway. And I haven’t seen her chest rise and fall with breath either. 

I’ve seen a lot of things since I first started traveling with the Doctor but tragedy like this still brings with it the sting of tears to my eyes. “Gwyneth, I’m so sorry. But you’re going to have to try. Remember that city you saw in my mind, that was so different from anything you’ve seen before? None of that will be there if you don’t send the Gelth back.” 

There is a pause. “I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here.” She slowly pulls something out of her pocket, it’s a box of matches. “Get out. Leave this place!”

The Doctor reaches out a hand for the matches. “Come on, leave that to me.” 

He doesn’t get it yet, what I think I’ve known since the Gelth descended. “Doctor, let her do it.” 

“I need to do something.” He snarls, like a wounded animal. “I-This was my fault, I pushed this. I need to fix it somehow.” 

Absolutely done and fed up with his behavior, I grab his collar, making him turn to face me. “No, you’ve made a right mess of this. Now I’m going to fix it.” 

The Doctor doesn’t move. 

“Go.” I enunciate clearly, letting go of his collar at least and pushing him towards the door. “NOW.” 

And he finally goes. A ball of guilt and frustration and regret. But I’ll deal with that later. Turning to Gwyneth, I bow my head in apology. “I’m sorry I didn’t try hard enough to stop it.” 

Gwyneth doesn’t respond, but then I didn’t really expect her to. 

I straighten, reaching out and squeezing her hand. “Thank you.” 

And then I’m gone too, rushing my way up the stairs, down the hallway, just making it through the doorway before the whole house goes up in flames. The shockwave from the explosion slams into my back and I’m sure I would have fallen, were it not for the Doctor steadying me. 

“Where’s Gwyneth?” He asks, urgent. “Why did you leave her there?” I take a moment to steady myself, which I guess is a moment to much. The Doctor shakes me a little by the grip he has on my arms. “You said you’d handle it!”

“And I did!” I yell back, yanking myself back from his hold. “I guess you weren’t paying attention, but Gwyneth died the moment the Gelth used her as a doorway to this world.” 

“But-“ Rose hesitates as both of our attention focuses itself on her. “But she was talking to us.” 

I tilt my head back to look up at the stars, thinking about everything that’s happened since I’d first been dragged into this world. So many things that I’d thought impossible, suddenly possible. “The world is a bigger place that we know.” 

“There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Dickens murmurs. 

“She saved the world.” Rose says, looking at the flames that are slowly eating away of what’s left of the funeral home. “A servant girl. No one will ever know.”

“We will.” I turn to look at her. “We will remember, and in our memory she will live on.” 

Silence descends then, a silence for the brave girl who only wanted to help her angels. And who ultimately saved the world. 

“Well then, what is to happen now?” Dickens murmurs, shifting uncomfortably when everyone turns to look at him. 

I glance over at my partner, and his blank face, then at Rose who looks exhausted. “I think it’s time for us to go home.” 

“Right, Right, I’ll just walk with you then.” Dickens states. I can feel his determination to not be left behind. It must have been quite a shock to have your world view turned around in such a way. 

So instead of telling him no, I nod, then start walking back in the direction I remember the Tardis being in. It’s a decent walk, nearly 30 minutes of it. And I end up giving up my wrap to cover Rose’s shoulders when her shivering gets to be to much. 

All the while, Dickens is chattering on. I must admit, I’m not exactly paying all that much attention to what he’s saying. Though it doesn’t seem he needs much of my actual attention, a faint affirmative or nod of the head and he’s off on another topic. 

But finally we reach the Tardis, and say our goodbyes. I even set it up so that Dickens can watch us dematerialize, that should give him a kick. 

“Doesn’t that change history, if he writes about blue ghosts?” Rose asks. 

Oh, was that part of what he was talking about then, writing about what happened? 

“In a week's time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies.” The Doctor states, tone void of emotion. “He'll never get to tell his story.”

“Oh, no. He was so nice.” Rose murmurs, a slight frown on her face. 

“But you got to see him alive.” I tell her, a mischievous smile on my face. “More alive then he seemed to have been for a while I would wager. Isn’t that something?” 

Rose smiles back at me, eyes lighting up. “Yeah, it really is.” 

“But, I think it’s time to get changed out of these dresses. I like the fashion, but they can be really impractical.” I tease, shooing her down the hallway. “You know where the wardrobe is, and if you get lost the Tardis will help.” 

“But.” Rose’s smile fades as she glances at the cloud of negativity that is the Doctor. “Are you sure?” 

“I know what I’m doing.” I assure her, though I really don’t. I just don’t want her to be here if he boils over. 

She gives me a long look, searching for something. Rose must find it because she nods, turning on her heel and walking down the hallway deeper into the Tardis. 

I turn to look at my partner, and his shoulders hunch like he can feel my gaze. 

Determined not to talk it seems, the Doctor starts to fiddle with the Tardis controls, flicking a lever back and forth until even the Tardis gets annoyed with him. There is a sharp whine, and I’m not surprised to hear a muffled curse that follows. 

I sigh, but go over to see what he managed to hurt. 

“Are you sure she was dead?” He asks me, emotions coalescing into something sharp and bitter. “Did you check to make sure?” 

“I know when someone’s dead.” I tell him, biting back the words that I know will hurt him the most. I’m trying not to escalate this tonight. 

The Doctor flinches, as if he can still hear them, before rallying once again. “If you didn’t check, then how do you know. She could have still been alive.” 

His words are plaintive, like he needs the answer to be that the girl didn’t die because he was focused on something else. 

That’s…not something that I’m going to be able to let him pretend about though. “Doctor-“ 

“Why didn’t you stop it?” The Doctor interjects, rounding on me. His expression is accusing. “I know you didn’t agree, you hated the plan. So why didn’t you stop me?”

I stare at him, keeping my expression as even as I can. But I can’t stop the curl of my disappointment. He feels it, I know he can, but it doesn’t seem to stop him. If anything, it seems to make him even more upset. 

“Are you not going to say anything?” He demands. 

Tilting my head, I let him wait. For 5 seconds, then 10. “Are you finished?” 

The Doctor blinks at me. “Finished?”

“Finished acting like a two year old who doesn’t like the outcome of the situation.” I clarify, watching his face pinch with anger. 

“Says the woman who runs when things get hard.” He responds, the words like a punch to the gut. 

The urge to cut myself off from him is almost overwhelming. He’s right, I want to hide. I want to run, and I want this conversation to be over. But I can’t right now, and it has nothing to do with pride. “Is that what want? A verbal punching bag?” I lean forward. “Would that make you feel better, having someone to take it out on?” 

The Doctor scoffs. “Is that what you think I’m doing?” 

“Yes.” I answer simply. “I don’t really know why you carry the oppressive guilt around, I’ve tried asking and you brush me off with a sad smile, or a gentle rebuff. I know it has to do with the war. I can feel how much you hurt because of it. And when you’re in pain, you lash out.” 

Emotional pain, physical pain, it didn’t matter. The Doctor didn’t respond well to pain of any kind. 

“That’s not true.” He insists, jaw working back and forth. 

I look at him evenly. The bridge of the Doctor’s nose slowly turns red in response. Is it agitation? Is it embarrassment? There is such a tangle of emotions in the corner of my mind dedicated to him that I can’t really tell. “So I’m going to ask again. Would it make you feel better to lash out at someone?” 

The Doctor actually growls, anger vibrating his whole being. The sound that at one time seemed soothing is now threatening. “So what if it would?” 

The sound of my footsteps is loud on the grating as I walk up to him. “I would tell you that it’s too damn bad. I’m not going to let you sit here and take it out on me. Not this time. And I’m certainly not going to let you take it out on the poor girl down the hallway.” I pause, letting my words sink in. “Things happened, and they were our fault. The woman died because of us. And you’re busy trying to deny it ever happened on one hand, while trying to push the blame off on somebody else with your other one.” 

“Because of us?” The Doctor shouts, shaking his head in a sharp motion. He puffs up like he’s about to continue yelling, but then all the fight seems to leave, his body slumping, voice barely a whisper. “You tried to tell me that it was a bad idea. But all I could see was a chance to fix something that the war caused.” His hand comes up to cover his face. “Everything I touch turns to ashes.” 

Oh Doctor. 

I reach out, pulling his hand away from his face. There is a sheen to his eyes, like tears are about to fall. “Now you know that’s not true.” 

The Doctor’s face crumples in response, his arms coming around my shoulders. “Oh Mabel, I’m sorry.”

“I know sweetheart.” Pushing the sincerity of my words over to him is the best I can do. 

There is no good way to handle the situation other than let the Doctor try to cry himself out. Even if every instinct I have is telling me to cart him off and do anything to make it better, I don’t think that would be right in this situation. The hurt is to deep, the feelings ingrained in his being.

And sometimes the hurts have to be felt in order for them to go away.

He only let’s himself be held for a few minutes, pulling back to wipe at his face. The Doctor’s emotions have calmed, though the grey numbness that is starting to replace them is worrying. 

So I do what I’ve seen him do for me. Bustle him off to a shower, give him a comfy pair of clothes to change into and then something to occupy his time. In this instance it’s Tardis maintenance. 

It takes hours. Hours of his hands moving mechanically, hours of my worry pounding against my skull, for the blankness to recede slightly. It takes hours for the Doctor to stop what he’s doing, come up from behind me and lean his head down against my own. 

Hours well spent for the weak smile I get nearly a full day after that. 

Rose is patient, or as patient as a she can be, knowing something is wrong. I make sure to spend time with her every day, though all activities are limited to the Tardis. The old girl manages to wrangle up a couple of new rooms for us to explore every time. I honestly don’t know what I would do without her. 

The numbing quality to his emotions slowly start to recede as more time passes. And every time I leave and come back he’s a little more pleased to see me, a little more animated with his expressions. My worry never truly disappears, this is the worst I’ve ever seen the Doctor and my own helplessness is a sour taste behind my teeth, but I try to dial it back for his sake. 

Though, come to think about it he probably knows anyways. 

That isn’t to say that he doesn’t have worse days, where he backslides into his depression once again, but as time passes they become less frequent. 

The Doctor, to his own credit, has nothing but apologies for me. Apologies for yelling, apologies for his depression. I wave them off of course. Well, not the yelling one, but the ones that have something to do with his depression in some shape or form I always try to brush off. 

I’ve tried explaining to him that he doesn’t need to apologize for that. But the Doctor is stubborn as a mule. Even when the verbal apologies stop, they manifest in a new way. 

Honestly, it wasn’t until the second time I blink my way out of a good book to find a warm glass of tea beside me that I realize he’s funneled it into something more productive. And into something that I couldn’t reasonably call him out on. 

The combination of annoyance and affection must tip him off because I can hear his quiet laugh from somewhere further along in the library. 

Seriously. 

That man is so infuriating. 

“No, I’m not.” The Doctor responds, raising his voice to be heard better.

Okay, he’s not. But I’m never going to let him know that. I ignore the fact that he probably already knows.


	19. Endings and New Beginnings (A good man goes to war)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are everyone. 
> 
> The end of a chapter, and the end of this book. Thank you to everyone who stuck with me while I was figuring out this story, and everyone who ignored my horrible grammar and stilted sentence structure while I figured how to write in a creative capacity once more. (I still have stilted sentence and horrible grammar but at least re-reading these later chapters doesn’t make me cringe.) At some point I’d like to go back and edit the earlier chapters, but that will be a project for another day. 
> 
> Thank you, everyone of you that left a comment, or a like, or a personal message. To everyone who favorited, and followed. Everyone of these things encouraged me to write more, and to continue even when I hit a road block. 
> 
> On another note, this isn’t the end of the story. I have several different ‘books’ planned out for the future. So if you enjoyed this story keep your eyes peeled for the first chapter of the next book. (Coming at some point in the future) I’ll also post a brief author’s note on this story when I finally post the next book so those who followed this story can know to head over to the new one if they are still interested. 
> 
> To those of you wondering when the next chapter of Tilted is coming out, I can only say sometime soon. I’ve been putting a little bit into it everyday. 
> 
> Have a fantastic day! 
> 
> ~RainingCoffee

The Doctor puts up with my smothering fairly well all things considered. It’s almost as if it’s something he needs as well. I need to feel useful and he needs to know that someone is there.

But eventually it happens. I jump, exactly two weeks after I first appeared with this Doctor. He knows before I do. A sad smile crossing his face as he reaches out to stroke a piece of my hair. 

And then I’m gone, I hadn’t even felt the heat this time. 

Our connection slots into place nicely, the twinge of hurt nothing but a remembered pain. I wonder if the Doctor just leaves himself open like that all the time now. It was unpleasant for the short time that I had to experience it, I couldn’t imagine feeling like that for however long it took for another him to pop up. 

The Doctor’s affection and sense of welcome quickly sours though, worry splitting through the emotions. 

A chair scrapes from the other side of the room, quick footsteps follow. I blink up at the familiar sight of our shared wardrobe with pleasant surprise. 

“Mabel?” The Doctor asks from the doorway, a furrow of concern creasing his forehead. He pads over once has my attention, kneeling down on the floor next to where I’ve popped up. “What happened?” 

I reach out, pulling him into an awkward hug. The Doctor doesn’t protest, even though his body is contorted at a strange angle. 

The fact that the oppressive numbness is almost entirely absent in this version of my future husband is a comfort. One that I allow myself to sink into. But not for long. His own pain from the past is not something that he should be comforting me about in the future. 

So, by the time I pull back, a smile is on my face and I’ve clamped down on nearly all the negative emotions swirling around my brain. “So-“ I chirp, voice bright in a way that makes me want to wince. To much Mabel, to much. “Where are we now?” 

The Doctor narrows his eyes at me. “That was sloppy at best and you know it.”

A zing of irritation races through me, along with a hint grudging respect. “Stop being so perceptive.” 

“Did you seriously think that was going to work?” He raises an eyebrow, while pulling the both of us to our feet. 

“No.” I admit, actively annoyed now. “But I thought you’d at least let me get away with it.” 

The Doctor barks out a laugh. “Not a chance.” Leaning down, he presses his forehead against mine. “Tell me what’s wrong.” 

His worry hums, sparking from the back of my mind and from the contact of our skin. 

It occurs to me that I’m causing him worry over the fact that I was stressed and worried over a past version of him. What a ridiculous turn of events. “It’s just been a long week, s’all.” He opens his mouth to argue, the intent is obvious, but I shake my head slightly. “It doesn’t exactly seem right discussing this with you when it has to do with your past self.” 

Wait. That came out wrong. 

“Finally realized how ridiculous that sounded?” The Doctor asks, entirely unimpressed. 

“Shut up.” I mumble, ducking my head. Everything seems sort of brighter now. It’s a jarring dichotomy from the bleak, dreary world I’ve been living in for the last couple of weeks. 

He cups my cheek, tilting my head so that he can look me in the eye. “I’m guessing leather jacket?” 

I nod, biting my cheek. 

“When you have a backdoor to someone else’s emotions, you have to be careful to not let theirs affect yours.” The Doctor murmurs. “But it can be hard sometimes. It was why I was so apologetic when I finally realized what was happening.” 

My mind arcs, making connections, and about the fact that I was continually feeling more positive the longer I had been in this time with this Doctor. “So, it’s some sort of transfer?” 

He nods, thumb rubbing a line under one of my eyes. I’m suddenly, starkly, aware of the bags that are under them. “It’s unconscious for the most part.” 

I lean back, away from his hold, abruptly. “Stop feeling worried over me getting a transfer of your past emotions. It’s the past you that should be worried over.” 

The Doctor rolls his eyes. “I’ll stop being worried when you look a little healthier.” 

“Are you saying that I don’t look good now?” I ask him, narrowing my eyes. 

“I’m saying that you obviously look as though you’ve not been taking care of yourself.” He states, ignoring the look on my face. 

A spark of my temper rears it’s head. I hadn’t wanted to verbally spar with the past Doctor for obvious reasons, but this Doctor was fair game. 

The Doctor shoots me an unimpressed look. “Stop that.” He tugs me from the closet, into the bathroom, and in the direction of the shower. “Go, shower, and then meet me in the kitchen.” 

And then he leaves before I have the chance to argue with him. 

So there I am, annoyed, with nothing to direct it towards. 

The Tardis warbles, flashing her lights at me. The shower turns itself on, steam immediately rising up from the tiles. “Yes, yes, I get the idea.” 

She raspberry’s me, all the lights turning off but the one in front of the mirror. I take the hint, going over and watching as my pale face enters the view. 

The Doctor was right, I looked horrible. The bags under my eyes could hold whole countries if they tried hard enough. My cheekbones were also sharper, as if I’d missed a few meals. 

The Tardis right’s the lights, her hum smug. 

I let her have that one, because she’s right. 

The Doctor’s bright emotions turn just the slightest bit relieved. I roll my eyes, even as I strip my clothes off to get into the shower. He’s keeping tabs on me I see. 

I can’t even bring myself to be angry at him. I’ve been doing the same thing to another version of him for the last two weeks. 

The shower does the trick, my negative emotions washing themselves down the drain with the soap. By the time I get out, I’m feeling clean and rejuvenated. 

A quick run over of the towel and a change into a casual button down shirt and a pair of leggings then I’m on my way to the kitchen. The Doctor has an omelet ready, of course he does. (It’s all he knows how to make in this body.) But it’s the thought that counts. 

It doesn’t take long to devour the food in front of me, and it takes even less time for me to realize that something else is wrong. The Doctor is fidgeting, mind a million miles away. 

“What is it?” I ask him, breaking the silence. 

He sighs, sending me a tired look. “Something happened, and I need to tell you about it. But..I’m finding it hard to phrase what I want to say.” 

Concerned now, especially at the way his emotions are settling into something more like solemn determination, I reach over to touch his hand. “What happened?” 

“A companion has been taken.” The Doctor tells me. “There was this thing with the flesh, and well- you’ll live that later. But they were using the flesh as a body double. Beamed her mind into the flesh double and she never knew she wasn’t actually here.” 

I catalog his words automatically, while my mind whirls. There is only one female companion that he travels with frequently with this regeneration -well only one that I’ve met so far. 

He’s talking about Amy. 

The rush of the outside world is loud in my ears, but all I have time to notice is the way the Doctors sits up abruptly, his full attention focusing on me. I suppose he can feel that way my focus has sharpened. Something inside of me has gone hard and cold, all sharp edges and determination. “How long ago did this happen?” 

“Fifteen hours, twenty three minutes and 12.7 seconds ago.” The Doctor answers promptly, leaning closer. “Or well, that’s when we disabled the signal to the flesh. I was also able to track the signal through the flesh to the general location that they were holding her at before I disrupted the signal to the flesh itself. Unfortunately, it only points us to the proper galaxy.” 

Hmm. “I suppose there’s a reason that we aren’t already there?” And it better not be that you were waiting for me. 

“This needs a proper plan.” He tilts his head to the side. “There’s a Cyber Legion in that Quadrant that we are going to hit in the morning for more information. They monitor everything there, so they should be able to tell us where Amy is being held.” 

There’s something about the tilt of his mouth that’s throwing off warning signs. “There’s still something that you aren’t telling me.” 

“Remember the pirates?” The Doctor waits for my nod to continue. “And how the scan I was running on Amy was coming back positive/negative?” 

No. Oh please tell me that she isn’t-“Doctor are you saying that Amelia’s pregnant?” 

“Yes. The last time we saw her she was going into labor.” He bows his head in response to my stare. 

Oh Amy. Pregnant and alone, taken by people that wish to do- something. 

“Why did they take her in the first place?” I ask. 

The Doctor shakes his head. “I don’t know.” 

I lean back, some of my focus turning inwards. “Besides getting information from the Cyber legion, what’s the plan once we know her location?” 

“Getting in, getting her and her baby and getting out?” He asks more than states, seemingly confused. 

The breath I take is more for him than it is for me. My patience holds, barely. My voice still comes out sharp as nails though. “We can’t just rely on that luck you wear like a talisman against reality Doctor. We need an actual plan for this.” 

The Doctor’s lips twitch up in amusement. “Technically dear, that is a plan.” 

“Doctor, it isn’t just us that we need to worry about.” Little Amelia and her child need all the protection they can get. 

“I know.” He murmurs, bowing his head.

“Alright.” I exhale, my mind whirling. “When we get the information from the Cyber Legion we should be able to account for numbers. The only problem is, if they have her in some kind of guarded area I’m not comfortable with it just being the three of us-Rory is coming with I assume?” The Doctor nods. “Okay, good. But like I was saying, there is no way that three people can account for all the variables, especially when it comes to human error.” 

The Doctor hums, something sad in his expression. “So what are you suggesting we do?” 

My lips purse in annoyance. I know he knows what I’m getting at here, I can feel it, but I don’t see why he’s making me say it out loud. “We have allies, people that will help if we ask. I know we do. Jack will come at least.” 

“Dorian Maldovar.” The Doctor murmurs. “A merchant, deals with black market goods. He came with me to destroy the weapon factories of Villengard.” 

He’s not telling me something, but he’s being honest about the person I think. This Dorian sounds interesting. “It’s worth a try if he’ll help.” 

“Actually. It’ll be good to have him now.” He states, jumping up from his chair. 

“Now?” My chair screeches as I follow his example, and then the two of us are down the hallway. 

The Doctor nods. “Yes, It’ll be good to have him here to go over the data.” 

But..The Doctor should be able to go through the data himself with no problem. 

“We’re too close to the issue.” He continues, eyes flicking in my direction even as his hands input coordinates to where ever we are going. “I might miss something.” 

Okay, yeah. He’s right. This is personal. That’s part of the reason I didn’t want to leave it to just us. “I trust you.” 

The Doctor pauses before throwing the de-materialization lever, breathing. 

“Hey.” I murmur, reaching out to touch his arm. 

He turns to face me. His hands come up to frame my face and for a second I think he’s going to kiss me but he just rests his head against mine. 

His mind, that big brilliant mind, hovers just outside my rudimentary barriers. I lower them, I’ll always lower them for the Doctor. His determination, fear, and worry beat against my mind, but in that moment of connection all of that falls away. My own worry falls away. 

And it’s just the two of us. 

….I’m not entirely sure how long we stay like that. But by the time we detangle ourselves and become two separate people once more I’m calmer. More focused. 

The Doctor is as well. His hands steady on the de-materialization lever when before it had been shaking slightly. 

The Tardis lands, and the two of us are out the door, walking haphazardly into what looks to be a bustling market place. 

“Merchant huh?” I ask rhetorically. Well at least we didn’t show up to whisk him away in the middle of the night like a cartoon. 

The Doctor laughs, his head thrown back from the force of it. “I might be dramatic, but I’m not that dramatic.” 

“Not that dramatic?” This man is nothing but dramatic. 

“Oi.” He grumbles. “At least let me have that one.” 

“Yeah, Yeah.” I murmur, half distracted. 

This is a marketplace. Where thousands of people travel through to get goods. It’s not uncommon to catch the attention of someone. So why is the alien who’s staring right at us form the back of the crowd pinging my senses like something’s wrong?

The Doctor’s good humor fades, his feet slowing to match the pace of mine. “Mabel?” 

That’s it. That’s what bugging me. While the alien is looking at us, no one is looking at the alien. People are walking around it like they don’t even notice it’s there. 

“Mabel?” The Doctor breaks my concentration. 

I turn to him with a smile. “I swear you are one of the most dramatic people I know of.” 

He leans back, even as something that feels a lot like dread crawls down his spine. “What were you looking at in the crowd?” 

“I wasn’t looking at anything in the crowd.” I state, concerned now. “I was looking at you the entire time.” 

The Doctor turns to look to his right, and I look as well. 

But-

The whole world shifts, one second I’m standing in a market with the Doctor and the next I’m in a dim room, restrained to a chair with a woman standing in front of me. 

The woman has a metal eyepatch on, and her other eye has a cat eye that’s sharp enough to cut. 

“What the fuck just happened?” I ask her. 

“You got in our way.” The woman states, clearly annoyed. “We weren’t planning on taking any hostages, we just wanted intel on what the Doctor was planning.” 

Oh, I see. “And what makes you so sure that the Doctor is planning anything?” 

The woman gives me a look like I dribbled on myself. “I’m not stupid, there’s been sightings of the Tardis showing up and gathering allies.” 

“Why do I feel as though we’ve had this conversation before?” The hint of Deja vu is strong, the words invoking a memory of unease and anger. 

“Because you have. Now what can you tell us about the Doctor?” The woman idly asks me. 

“He’s a mad man with a box.” I answer dryly. “Also, who are you? I’m calling you ‘the woman’ in my head and it’s starting to get annoying.”

She smiles, the gesture more a baring of the teeth than anything else. “You can call me Madame Kovarian. And you know that’s not what I was looking for. Tell me what you know of the Doctor, and what you know of his plans. Is he coming here?”

Kovarian then. Nice to have a name attached to the face. 

“Question with a Question. Is here where Amy Pond and her child is being kept?” I counter, watching her expression. 

Her expression which doesn’t change, but the atmosphere of the room does. And I’m willing to bet that I’m right. This is the area where she’s being held. That’s good. Even if the Doctor isn’t able to receive the information he wants from the Cyber Legion, he can just follow the connection to me. 

The connection which is closed at the moment. I take a moment to hope that it’s because he’s shut his side down instead of anything these people have tried to do. 

“What an expression on your face.” Kovarian smiles, a thinning of her lips more than anything. It’s clear that it’s not supposed to be a comforting expression. “I think I almost felt afraid for a second.”

My face? Ah, my face. Which has locked down and gone cold. 

I tilt my head to the side in a paradigm of interest. “Well, I don’t really get the warm and fuzzies when one of my friends gets kidnapped.” 

“It was a necessary evil, everyone does things they aren’t proud of when it comes to war.” Kovarian states. 

I shake my head slowly. “There are no necessary evils in war. There are only people, and the actions they take to win.” 

-

They keep me here for what feels like…days? Maybe a week? I keep losing chunks of time. It’s disorienting. And whole unsettling. 

I still can’t feel the Doctor in the back of my head. Which suggests that he’s not blocking it like I had assumed, rather he’s either too far away for our connection to fully realize itself or he’s not in this time frame. The low grade headache that I get in response isn’t quite as bad as the last one I’d had, which is one plus. 

There’s a good chance he’s still collecting allies. But I wish he’d hurry up. From what I’ve been able to hear it seems like they are getting ready to move the child. Amy’s child. 

Escaping doesn’t work. Every time I try I end up back in this room, tied to the chair again, with no idea of how I got here. It was frustrating. 

I did have one thing going for me here, though. It seemed like they didn’t actually know who I was. I hadn’t given my name, and they hadn’t asked. An oversight that I was going to take advantage of. And one I used to gather as much information as possible. 

It was incredibly useful, the fact that they didn’t know who I was you see. I could listen in on their conversations without them realizing I could hear them. Kovarian had a bad habit of stopping right outside the door of wherever they had me locked up at and talking with people. 

But then, one day, my connection with the Doctor clicks into place like a supernova. I’m glad I was alone to be honest, the strength of his anger something that I’ve never felt from him. All black rage and brilliant purpose. 

Today was to be the day of escape then. Fantastic. 

When Kovarian enters the room at fifteen after noon, like she does every day like clockwork, she pauses as she gets a good look at my face. “Well, that’s a different look than normal.” 

I grin at her, all teeth and manic energy. “It was time for a change.” 

Kovarian narrows her eyes at me. “What is that supposed to mean?” 

“That’s for me to know, and for you to find out.” I state, enjoying the twitch of annoyance it causes. 

“I see.” Kovarian murmur. “Well, it should please you to know that we’re moving locations soon.” 

Please me? “Why..would that please me?” 

The hateful woman studies the nails on her right hand, unconcerned. “Well, we’ve only kept you here to get information out of you. And we haven’t really been successful on that front. So your use has waned.” 

“And let me guess, you’re going to leave me behind.” I state more than ask, already seeing where this is going. 

“Precisely.” Kovarian turns her attention from her nail to my face. Satisfaction is etched along the lines of her mouth, and around her eye. 

I have a sinking feeling I know exactly where this is going. “But, I now know the faces and voices of your operatives.” 

Kovarian laughs. “You are quick, aren’t you?” She pulls a knife from somewhere out of the back of her clothes. “I do so hate to get my hands dirty, but you’ve been very annoying.” 

“And how far the church has fallen.” I murmur, uncaring of the way it makes her eyes narrow. 

She advances, but it’s clear from the way she’s holding the knife that this type of warfare is unfamiliar to her. This is probably just another attempt to get information from me. Intimidate me with a knife and maybe I’ll talk. 

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the light takes that moment to flicker off. 

I seize that moment, springing up from my chair, the ropes holding my hands long since unraveled. We struggle in the dark, the two of us, but I have the upper hand physically. 

“What’s going on?” Kovarian spits, I can feel some of the splatter hit the side of my face. 

I laugh. “The Doctor has found you, Kovarian. Your bogeyman is here.” 

In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have taunted the woman who had a knife in her hand. She breaks out of the hold I have on her wrists, and her knife find the flesh it’s been hungry for. 

It slides into my chest from the side, and glances off one of my ribs before driving itself into soft tissue. I shriek, the sound torn from my chest. 

The Doctor’s shock sings through me, but then his determination quickly rushes forward to replace it. I tuck that determination around me like a shield against the pain. It doesn’t really work, but it’s better than being in pain alone. 

Kovarian laughs, high and harsh. “The Doctor might be here, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to get what he’s come for.” 

“That’s where you’re wrong Kovarian.” I cough, the pain whiting out my vision for a split second. “You won’t be taking Amy and her child away today.” 

“We will see, won’t we?” She asks me, rhetorically. But it seems as if she’s tired of the back and forth, I can hear the shifting of fabric, then the click of her heels as she approaches the door. 

“Kovarian!” I snarl, but she doesn’t pause. 

She actually leaves me here, like a dog to be put down. 

It’s hard work, every time I move the knife slides one way or another, bringing with it more pain, but I eventually make it to the far wall. Like magic, as soon as I lean myself against it, the lights come back on. 

At least I’m able to take in the damage now. The knife is far higher than I originally thought it had been, which was concerning, as it looked dangerously close to my heart. In fact, it had managed to cut through enough of my bra that I’d have to pitch the whole thing. 

The blood was also all over my shirt. Ugh this whole outfit was ruined now. 

Rapid footsteps interrupt my introspection, and they are the only thing that keeps me from flinching when the door bangs open. It’s the Doctor, my Doctor. He’s here. 

“Mabel!” He shouts, and between one moment and the next he travels from the doorway to my side, hands hovering over my chest. 

“Doctor.” I murmur. “They ruined my outfit.” 

“Your outfit?” The Doctor frowns at me. “I think they ruined more than your outfit Mabel.” His hands come up to cradle my face as he peers into my eyes. “You’re in shock.” 

Oh, is that what that is? Funny. 

But the Doctor has moved on it seems, hands going down to my shirt. He’s careful, but it still jostles the knife when he rips my shirt open. I groan, a pitiful sound. 

“Sorry, Sorry.” He murmurs. “I just needed to see the dam-“ The Doctor inhales, a sharp sound. “Oh Mabel.” 

I look down, now able to see the entirely of my chest. The Doctor has ripped my whole shirt in half to see what was going on. It’s..not the prettiest of sights. “Doctor.” 

He pulls back far enough that he can pull something out of his pocket. The whirling sounds lets me know it’s a sonic before my mind can cooperate enough to put the image with a word. It hums, but it’s clear that the information it’s giving the Doctor isn’t something he’s pleased about. “I don’t have anything to heal this here.” My partner tells me. “And I’m sorry but you’re going to have to be very brave.” 

“Brave?” I ask, confused. Brave… That word sparks something, a memory. “Doctor, Amy!” 

The Doctor shushes me, pressing me back into the wall. “Rory’s got her, we’ll go to see her after, okay?” 

After..“After what?” 

His hand settles on the handle of the knife. “Ready?” 

Oh. Suddenly, my brain kicks into overdrive, connecting everything that I’d been missing. The Doctor was going to pull the knife out, but he didn’t have anything to heal me. I would have to be brave because I was going to... “Docto-“ 

But he doesn’t even let me finish my sentence, pulling the knife out in one solid yank. I scream again, voice cracking from the pain, which then trails off into pained whimpers. 

“I know, I know. I’m so sorry Mabel.” The Doctor murmurs, and I realize that he’s pulled me to his chest in a hug. 

I cough, and this time blood travels up my throat with it, spilling over my lip. “..urts..” 

He presses a kiss to the side of my head. “Yes, I can feel that it does. But you can fix it.”

But I don’t know how. “..I..” 

“Your body knows what to do, just let it do what it needs to.” The Doctor tells me, voice tight with emotion. 

Almost as if him saying that was the cue, a tingling starts up in my fingertips. The Doctor kisses my forehead again, then detangles his body from where he’d been cradling me. The only reason I don’t panic is that his mind stays tightly intertwined with mine. The tingle spreads, encompassing every part of my body. It turns vicious then, a boiling battering ram that rages its way over everything. Getting stabbed didn’t even hurt this much. 

Suddenly, it’s over. The screaming, my screaming, abruptly cuts off. The silence is deafening, and the only thing I’m able to comprehend is the doublebeats of my hearts. 

“Oh that really is wizard.” I murmur. Everything is so strange. New hearing, new eyes. The shuffle of a foot in my direction. 

“Mabel.” The Doctor says, kneeling down next to me. His smile is watery but undeniably fond. “Hello.”

“Doc-tor” I overexaggerate. My face falling into a beaming grin. I reach out and grab his bow tie, using it to pull him into a kiss. 

It’s awkward at first, new teeth, new tongue, but as I re-learn how to use everything the kiss gentles into something familiar. But, as quick as I pulled him into a kiss, I use the same hands to push him away. 

He falls back onto the ground, gaping at me. 

“Oi!” I yell at him. “What the hell was that!” 

The Doctor stares at me for a second, his surprised expression falling away in exchange for something soft. And sappy. His words, on the other hand, are anything but. “Well, I was thinking that you could die now, or you could die in 30 minutes. But we are kind of on a timeline, so I thought I’d speed things up.” 

I blink at him, unimpressed. “Oh, the romance.” 

He laughs, hand brushing a piece of my hair out of my eyes. “Braveheart Mabel, I’m always a romantic.” 

For some reason, the action causes me to blush. The heat travels across my cheeks, and on down the bridge of my collar bones. “Stop it.” 

“Never.” The Doctor murmurs, fingers tugging on a piece of my hair. “Though talking about unfairness. You actually got ginger before me!” 

“I’m ginger now?” I ask, pulling my significantly longer hair into my face to check for myself. It’s very ginger, very much so. 

Scrambling to my feet, I examine the rest of me as best as I can. I seem to be taller now, as made clear by the gap between my shirt’s bottom and the strip of belly I have showing. Also, once the Doctor stands up it’s easy to see that I won’t have to lean up as far to kiss this him either. 

Ginger, ginger. Why is that throwing off important warnings in my brain. I gasp, whirling around to face the Doctor. “Amy!” 

“Yes, we should probably go check on that part of the plan.” He admits. “I wanted to give you a minute to get used to your new body first.”

“Anything could have happened!” I scold. “There’s no time to waste. Let’s go!” Aiming for the door, I start walking with a purpose. 

The Doctor darts after me. “Mabel, you’re not even dressed properly. I’ve been keeping in touch with the others anyways. The hostiles have been neutralized and Rory stopped Kovarian before she took off with the baby.” 

I frown down at my clothing. The Doctor had tore my shirt open, and my bra was only hanging on by a thread. But the Doctor would look silly if I asked for his shirt. Stopping abruptly, I strip out of my shirt and bra, ignoring the Doctors squeaks as he tries to cover me up from the attention of the guards in the halls. 

I’m not worried about them, let them look. The only thing that would concern me is if they were attacking, and it seems like the Silurians who are stripping them of their weapons have it under control. Throwing my bra over my shoulder, I shrug my ruined shirt back on, tying it under my boobs like a swimsuit. Or a fake cowgirl. Whatever, at least it makes me descent and stops the Doctor from his fussing. 

“Mabel!” He scolds me, exasperated. 

“Doctor!” I reply, with the same intensity. 

The Doctor blows a sharp burst of air out of his nose. Placing a hand on my lower back, he starts leading me back down the hallway. “I know you’ve just regenerated and things are all wibbly now, but you’re going to have to stay focused now dear.” 

“I am focused.” I remind him. “It was you who was fussing about me not being properly clothed.” 

There’s something bugging me. I feel as though I’m missing something big. With a sharp mental smack, I finally realize what it is. 

“Why do I have a Scottish accent now?” I exclaim. “This is ridiculous. Oh, Amy is never going to let me live this down.” 

The Doctor hides his smile in my hair. It’s no use, I can feel how much this amuses him. 

“It’s not funny Doctor. She’s going to take one look at me and laugh her ass off.” I grouch. I feel as though this will be my grouching body. I’m ginger and Scottish. I can argue with the best of them now.

“We’ll get to that when we get to it.” He tells me. Some of the banked rage I can still feel in him is rising to the surface the farther we walk. 

I brush my shoulder against his, a show of support. The familiar urge to keep the peace is notably missing. Understandably, as this organization has stolen one of our companions and they are intending to do something with said companions newborn daughter. 

Not on our watch. 

“You called in the Silurians, who else?” I ask him, half formed plans rattling around in my mind. “Did you get to Dorian?”

The Doctor’s hand clenches against my back. “Yeah, and a couple of our old friends.” 

Humming in response, I turn my head to look at him. “I’m assuming that means Jack.” The one spot of offness radiating from the base is unmistakable now that I’m looking for it. 

“Yes, Vastra and Jenny too. And a couple of others you haven’t met quite yet.” He fills in, a hint of approval in his returning look. Even that fades though, as we turn the corner and come within sight of an open door. 

The room we enter is full of people. A Silurian is there, standing next to a woman. Both of them are wearing Victorian style clothing, so I’m going to assume that they are Vastra and Jenny that the Doctor told me about so very long ago. A person who resembles a very tall potato is pointing a gun at Kovarian and the General who was in charge of the base. 

There is a blue man in the back corner, Dorian I assume. And then there is Jack. 

It takes less than a second to process this information, and in that time frame I can see the look of realization that flits across Kovarian’s face. 

Ignoring Vastra’s startled exclamation, and Jack’s concern, I bare my teeth at the women who tried to murder me. “Bet you didn’t see that coming.”

“Mabel.” Kovarian closes her eyes briefly. “The wife of the Doctor.” 

“Not quite yet. That’s yet to come for me, and yes, your information was very wrong.” I tell her, enjoying her anger. That’s new, I’ve never been this vindictive before. 

It takes her a second to respond, but she does so with her normal composure. “A miscalculation, not that it matters now.” Kovarian scoffs. “Should have just went straight for the shuttle.” 

She’s hiding something. I can practically taste it in the air. Narrowing my eyes, I study her expression. “Doctor, how did she grab Amy in the first place?” 

He glances at me, mouth a harsh line across his face. “A flesh avatar. The body aboard the Tardis was a decoy. They synced her mind to the flesh avatar but her real body was with them the whole time.” 

“And you’ve retrieved Amy’s child?” I ask him. 

“Yes, Rory stopped them.” The Doctor turns to me, confused now. “What is all this about?” 

I ignore him and take a step closer to Kovarian. “You’re good, but not good enough.” Tilting my head to the side, I enjoy the look of confusion that comes over her face. “Where’s the real child?”

“They took the child back.” Kovarian sneers. The tightening at the corner of her lips gives her away though. 

“They retrieved a child, a flesh avatar just like Amy.” A muscle in her jaw jumps, likely in result to her clenching her teeth. I turn to the others, waving a hand to silence their questions. “This is very important, don’t let anyone leave this base until the real child is found.” 

Jack nods, straightening up into attention before taking off from the room. 

The Doctor places a hand on my shoulder, gaining my attention. “Mabel, what makes you think that the child is a flesh avatar?” 

“They never realized that I was anything other than human.” I explain. “I overheard them talking on multiple occasions. They never came out and said it directly, but I can understand subtext.” 

“What are you going to do now?” The Colonel asks, back straightening as our attention swings to him. 

“Now?” The Doctor tilts his head. “You’re asking me what’s going to happen after you’ve kidnapped, and attempted to kill my wife?” While his voice started off low and dangerous, it’s risen to a dangerous snarl. “After you’ve taken our companion and her child? You’re really asking what happens next?”

The Colonel swallows, scared but continuing on in spite of it. I’d almost feel bad for him if he hadn’t had a hand in all of this. “Yes.”

Lips curling away from his teeth, the Doctor takes a step closer to the two people who have manufactured this whole situation. 

I don’t stop him.

This is normally where I would say something to get him to back down, but I can’t even find the urge to try. My death, and subsequent regeneration, is something that I’m not all that mad about. But little Amelia Pond. Who they stole, and terrified, and tried to steal her baby. Now that isn’t something that I can forgive. 

The Doctor takes one more step, then pauses, throwing a brief glance in my direction. He closes his eyes against whatever expression I’m making. “Colonel, today seems to be a lucky day for you.”

“Lucky day.” The Colonel’s voice is flat, unamused.

“Things are happening, things that I’m not going to explain to you. But it means that instead of going with my first instinct, I’m going to have to think of something else to do with you.” The Doctor opens his eyes, turning his attention back to the Colonel. 

The Colonel’s chest pushes out, anger manifesting in a physical way. 

The Doctor makes a sharp motion with his hand, cutting the Colonel off before he can even get started. “Yes, I think that would be best. Colonel Manton, I want you to tell your men to run away.” 

“You what.” The General states.

“Those words.” The Doctor reiterates. He is all cold rage and protective determination. “Run away. I want you to be famous for those exact words. I want people to call you Colonel Run Away.” He paces, one lap down the room and one lap back, his voice steadily rising. “I want children laughing outside your door, because they've found the house of Colonel Run Away. And, when people come to you, and ask if trying to get to me through the people I love-“

The Doctor pauses, taking a deep breath. When he speaks next his voice is tight with control, and his smile is anything but pleasant. “-is in any way a good idea, I want you to tell them your name.”

“The anger of a good man is not a problem.” Kovarian states. “Good men have too many rules.”

I turn to look at her, and so does the Doctor. He’s careful, controlled. But his words still come out with a bite. “Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many.”

Kovarian swallows, the motion almost unnoticeable as her eyes going to the General. “Give the order.” She then turns her face to look at me. “Give the order, Colonel Run Away.”

And he does. The General is pale, and shaking, but he gives the order. 

And then there is silence. 

But then there is Jack. He claps his hands, ignoring the dirty looks he gets for startling people. “We’ll finish up here if you want to go check on the lovebirds.” 

I look at the Doctor, and he looks at me. It’s a good idea, we are too close to this issue to handle it in any way other than personally. Plus, I really want to see Amy. 

The Doctor nods, jerking his head towards the door. 

It doesn’t take us long to get to the room, if the door he stops in front of is any indication. The sonic whirls, and I notice that it’s actually my sonic, but before I get a chance to say anything the door pops open and the Doctor darts forward. He doesn’t get very far before he abruptly stops, doing an about face “Urgh. Kissing and crying. I'll, I'll be back in a bit.” 

Rolling my eyes, I pull him back into the room with me. Amy and Rory are there, their baby cradled between the two of them. 

Reversing the grip I have on his arm, the Doctor leads us down to the group, big gaping smile on his face as he takes in the family. 

Amy looks at me, teary eyed. “My daughter, Mabel, it’s my daughter.” 

I hug her tight, making sure not to smother the baby. “Oh Amelia Pond, you miracle.” I pull back to look at the both of them, mother and child, and feel my face wibble as it tries to cry as well. 

Amy hands her daughter over, and I panic for a second, nervous that I’m going to drop her. That doesn’t happen of course, and then I’m staring down at the child of the little girl I’ve watched grow up form a child herself. 

Something shifts inside of me, a piece clicking into place. The lingering remnants of my dark mood from earlier evaporate like smoke. This child is important. 

With a bolt of shook, I realize that this child is also very familiar. 

Melody’s face scrunches up as if she’s going to start crying, and I start rocking her. “Hello, little Melody.” My voice comes out soft, almost breathless. 

The Doctor reaches out a finger and lets Melody grab onto it. “Hello Melody Pond.”

“Melody Williams.” Rory corrects. 

“Is a geography teacher.” Amy responds instantly, irritated. The irritation disappears as soon as she looks back down at the baby. “Melody Pond is a superhero.”

I hand Melody back over to Amy, hands gentle. Amy smiles down at the bundle in her arms, before shooting me a look of confusion. “Wait, how’d you know her name was Melody?”

“Oh Amelia, what else would you name your daughter?” I ask her in an attempt to divert the attention from my mess up. Now is not the time for me to tell her that we fail at some point. In fact, I tuck that knowledge, and the resulting feelings that causes as far back into my mind that I can. 

She laughs, eyes watery once again. Rory clears his throat, looking happy and awkward and proud. “We’ve discussed this before, what we’d do if-when we had children.” He looks at Amy with a tender expression. “We want you to be her god parents.” 

God parents. I look over at the Doctor who looks just as shocked as I am. God parents, to Amy and Rory’s daughter. 

The Doctor recovers first, clasping my hand tight in his. “Of course we will.” 

“Oh god.” I say, wiping my other hand across my eyes. “Sorry, I don’t mean to cry. It’s just-“

“We’re so happy.” The Doctor finishes. He pauses, sobering a little, before looking back up at Amy. “I’m sorry we took so long.” 

“It’s okay.” Amy smiles, a brave little thing. “I knew you guys were coming.” 

The Doctor scoops her up in a hug, inhaling, before releasing her with a pleased look on his face. Melody coos, the sound carrying with it a sense of scorn and a flash of big hair. He reaches up and touches the crown of his head. “No, no it’s my real hair.”

Melody spits out a bubble at him. Teasing. The Doctor straightens his bow tie. “Not it’s not. It’s cool.”

I squeeze his hand, almost overwhelmed by the whole situation. My emotions are all over the place, bogged down and swirling. 

Amy gives the Doctor an irritated look. “Okay, what are you doing?” 

“I speak baby.” He explains. Well that explains it, I’m fairly certain I’m getting that as well. 

“No, you don’t.” Amy insists. 

“I speak everything.” The Doctor tells her, voice soft. He reaches out and lets Melody grab onto his finger once again. “Don’t I Melody Pond?”

“Doctor, Mabel!” Vastra rushes into the room. “They’re leaving. And not a drop of blood spilled.” 

The Doctor walks over to the window, a neutral look on his face as he watches what’s gong on below. 

I clap my hands, just as Jack had done earlier, getting everyone to look at me. “As much as I’d love to stay here, I think it’s time to go somewhere else.” 

“Fantastic idea.” The Doctor rushes back over to us, urging Amy and Rory out of the room. “The Tardis is close, let’s go there.” 

The Tardis is close, only a five minute walk, and everyone but Vastra piles in. She declines, saying she needs to get back to the control room to further go through the data. 

“I’ll come get you if I find anything.” Vastra promises. 

The Doctor nods, throwing the dematerialization lever as soon as she closes the door. “Just a short hop to the hanger room, we shouldn’t leave until we find out just what was going on here. And why they wanted Melody in the first place.”

“Agreed.” I purse my lips, glancing in the direction of the Ponds. “I don’t like this. Kovarian’s plan of swapping the child with a flesh avatar and escaping didn’t work. So why does it feel as though we are still missing something?”

“Vastra and Dorian are working with the computers as we speak.” The Doctor tells me. “The only thing we can do right now is wait for them to go through the information.” 

Frowning at the doors, I concede. “I suppose.” 

The Doctor places a hand on my shoulder, using it to spin me to face him. “Everything is going to be fine.”

“Don’t say that.” I grumble even as I lean further into the comfort of his body. “Every time someone says that things immediately go wrong.”

“Looks like you got that Scottish grumpiness in addition to the red hair and accent.” He teases me, eyes fond. “Though it is odd to hear it with the American words you are used to saying.” 

I huff out a laugh, amused despite myself. “So how is it then?”

The Doctor tilts his head. “How’s what?”

“This body.” I gesture down at myself. “What’s it like?” Despite the bravado I’m trying to push to the surface, nerves rise up. It was one thing to ignore it while there was still work to be done but-well. This was an entirely different body. My body now, I suppose. I hadn’t even seen myself in the mirror yet. 

What if the Doctor didn’t like this me?

Surging forward, the Doctor immediately cups the side of my face and pulls me in for a kiss. It’s different from the one we shared earlier, more urgent. All it takes is the flick of his tongue, a clever trick with his fingers along the side of my neck and I’m putty in his hands. 

“I will never not like any body you have.” He tells me, pulling back form the kiss to rest his forehead against mine. The sincerity coming off of him is so strong that I’m almost swimming in it. 

Overwhelmed by this show of support, the only thing I can do is place my hand over his, smiling with this new strange mouth of mine. 

And, well. It’s me, so I pull him down into another kiss. His mouth opens with my gentle urging. The fact that he’s so receptive is…really very attractive. 

The Doctor makes a low noise of approval, before abruptly pulling away. He closes his eyes, pressing a hard kiss to the side of my head. “Now’s probably not the best time for that dear.” 

Taking note of the strained quality to his voice, and at just how keyed up I am from two kisses, I’d have to agree with him on that one. Pressing one last kiss to his jaw line, I pull back from the comfort of his body. “Yes, yes. Of course.” 

He opens his eyes, hyper focused on me. 

Amy clears her throat, gaining our attention. “I’m not entirely sure what that was, but we have more important things to worry about.” And she’s right. Melody is crying. 

I reach out for her, waiting for Amy’s nod before I finish picking her up. “Hey there Melody, what’s the matter?”

“She doesn’t like the Tardis noise.” Amy explains, looking over at the Doctor. “Any chance of turning something off?” 

The Doctor frowns at her. “You know I can’t do that.” Pulling the lever once again, the Tardis shakes a bit as we materialize. 

Melody keeps crying. I get a sense of multiple faces, and darkness. Silence. 

Ah, I get it now. At least I think I do. Some newly awakened instinct I didn’t even know I had rears its head and I start to pace back and forth while rocking her. “I know all the people are exciting, so many new faces to see. But they’ll be there when you wake up I promise.” 

She seems unimpressed with my words, pausing her crying just long enough to look up at me before continuing. 

“I know, I know. I’m just a stranger too.” I continue the rocking motion. “But I’m your God mom, you can trust me on that.” 

“What are you doing?” Amy asks me, wry look on her face. “Are you going to tell me that you speak baby now too?” 

I laugh softly, lowering my voice in response to the quiet that’s now echoing around the room. “You know what? I really think I can.” 

Melody blinks up at me, yawning, her little mouth opening as wide as it can go. 

My hearts go sort of wibblly wobbly in response. I gesture for Rory to get the door, keeping my voice down. “Might as well go out, we still need answers.”

As soon as we leave the Tardis doors, Jenny approaches us. “Rory!” 

I shush her, nodding down to the sleepy baby in my arms. 

“Sorry.” She whispers in response, before turning back to Rory. “The Judoon have escorted the Clerics out of the quadrant. Spitfires have returned to their own time. Captain Avery and his men are going as well.” 

Rory nods at her. “Good, they did a good job today.” 

The Doctor comes out of the Tardis doors holding an old wooden cot. I hadn’t even noticed he had left in the first place. He places the cot on one of the military cargo boxes, fiddling with the little mobile of stars hanging from the top. 

“What’s this?” Amy asks, running her thumb over one of the metal stars. 

“It's a, it's a cot.” Rory says, surprise in his voice. 

The Doctor looks very close to rolling his eyes. “No flies on the Roman.” He reaches for Melody and I transfer her as gently as I can into his arms. 

“Melody Pond.” The Doctor breathes, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. He then lowers her into the cot. “There we go, how’s that?”

Melody smacks her lips together, breathing evening out into something more uniform. The trust in the action is staggering. 

“But where would you get a cot?” Rory asks, still stuck on the fact. 

“It's old. Really old.” Amy’s eyes flicker between the two of us. “Do the two of you have children?” 

The Doctor ignores the question, reaching down to adjust the blankets around Melody’s body. And so do I. I don’t want any sneak peaks right this moment. It’s enough knowing what I already know. 

“Doctor. Who slept in here?” Amy pushes. 

“Doctor, Mabel, we need you in the main control room.” Vastra’s voice crackles over the intercom. Perfect timing. 

“Be right there!” The Doctor calls back, before turning back to Amy and Rory. “Things to do. We've still got to work out what this base is for. We can't leave till we know.” Grabbing my hand, he pulls me in the direction of the door.

“But this is where I was?” Amy asks, voice uncharacteristically hesitant. “The whole time I thought I was on the Tardis, I was really here?”

Oh Amelia. I don’t really have to even think about it, one moment I’m with the Doctor and the next I’m with Amy, throwing my arms around her. She ducks her head into my shoulder, hands tight with strain from their grip in my clothes. The Doctor comes up behind her and places a hand on her shoulder. 

“At all times. You were on the Tardis, too. Your heart, your mind, your soul.” He tells her. “But physically, yes, you were still in this place.”

“And when I saw that face looking through the hatch, that woman looking at me.” Amy pulls back from the hug with me just in time to get swept up with a hug from the Doctor. 

“Reality bleeding through. They must have taken you quite a while back. Just before America.” The Doctor explains. 

“So her Flesh avatar was with us all that time.” Rory chimes in. “But that means they were projecting a control signal right into the Tardis wherever we were in time and space.”

The Doctor pulls back from the hug as well. “Yeah, they're very clever.”

Amy’s eyes flicker between the two of them. “Who are?”

“Whoever wants our baby.” Rory tells her. 

“But why do they want her?” Amy asks, sounding lost. 

“That’s why we’re still here. We need to figure that out.” And speaking of finding things out, it’s about time we went and saw what Vastra was calling us for. 

“Is there anything you're not telling us?” Rory, stops us from leaving once more. “You knew Amy wasn't real. You never said.”

The Doctor pauses, looking over at Rory with tired eyes. “Well, I couldn't be sure they weren't listening.”

“But you always hold out on us. Please, not this time. Doctor, it's our baby. Tell us something.” Amy practically begs. “One little thing.”

I squeeze his hand, encouraging. 

“It’s my cot.” The Doctor offers. “I slept in there.” Then using our linked hands, he pulls me away before they can ask anymore questions. 

It doesn’t stop me from hearing Amy’s quiet joy. “Oh my god Rory, it’s the Doctor’s first stars.” 

Bumping our shoulders together, I smile up at him when he looks over. “The Doctor’s first stars.” 

“Shut up.” He grumbles, turning just the tiniest bit pink around the ears. 

-

 

As soon as we enter the room, the Doctor lights up. “Alya!” He darts across the room and pulls the woman that’s standing beside Jack into an enthusiastic hug. Alya hugs back, a look of joy on her face. “It’s been a while since we’ve seen you.”

“You know how it is.” Alya teases, pulling back. “I’ve been busy.” 

“To busy to even visit?” The Doctor raises an eyebrow in disapproval. 

Alya rolls her eyes, not reacting to that. She turns her head to look at me, a smile still lingering around the corners of her mouth. “Can you believe this? He’s lecturing me on not visiting. We all know you’re the one who reminds him of where to go and who’s next on the list.”

I send her an uncertain smile. “Sounds like something I’d do.” 

She sends a sharp look at the Doctor. He shakes his head once, the motion subtle. “Oh.” Alya breathes out, looking hurt for a brief second. But, by the time she turns back to me, the expression is gone from her face entirely, replaced by a cocky smirk. “The names Alya, nice to meet you.” 

“Hello Alya.” I send her a proper smile this time. She’s more than likely someone very important in my future and I have no desire to cause her anymore pain. “It’s nice to meet you as well.” 

“What? No greeting for me?” Jack asks, breaking the tense atmosphere. 

I roll my eyes, going over to give him a hug nonetheless. “Of course, can’t leave you out, even though we saw each other earlier.” 

Jack picks me up off the floor and swings me around. “Of course not!” He sets me down, frowning down at my shirt. “It wasn’t the time to ask about it before, but what’s with the cowgirl outfit?”

“You know, I kind of forgot about that.” I muse, looking down at my torn and repurposed shirt. “My shirt and bra got cut open and he was freaking out about it.” I don’t even have to look over at the Doctor to know he’s making a face at my back. “So I fixed the problem.”

I’m sure Jack had a witty remark lined up, but it seems like he’s finally noticed the blood stain along the side of my shirt. It only takes him a second to make the connection. “This.” Jack hesitates. “This is a lot of blood.” 

The Doctor places a hand on my back, turning me away from the conversation and towards Dorian who’s at the computer console. I’m rather grateful for it, I don’t know what I would have said in response. 

“You've hacked into their software, then?” The Doctor asks. 

“I believe I sold it to them.” Dorian responds.

The Doctor hums. “So what have we learned?”

Vastra takes a step closer to us. “That anger is always the shortest distance to a mistake.”

“I'm sorry?” The Doctor turns towards her, his form very still. 

I place a hand on his back and he instantly relaxes. 

“The words of an old friend who once found me in the London Underground, attempting to avenge my sisters on perfectly innocent tunnel diggers.” Vastra continues, sending me an approving look. 

“Well, you were very cross at the time.” The Doctor retorts. 

“As you were today, old friend. Point taken, I hope.” The Doctor nods, looking at me for a brief second. Vastra straightens. “Now, I have a question. A simple one. Is Melody human?”

“Melody is Amy and Rory’s daughter.” I answer, not ready to voice my suspicions. 

The Doctor laughs. “What kind of question is that? Of course she’s human.”

“They've been scanning her since she was born, and I think they found what they were looking for.” Dorian states, clicking a button and bringing up a strand of Melody’s DNA. 

“Human DNA.” The Doctor insists. 

“Look closer. Human plus.” Vastra looks at the two of us. “Specifically, human plus Time Lord.”

The DNA strand turns and an invisible forth strand appears. One that denotes a link to the time vortex, that only a Gallifreyan should be able to have. 

“That’s impossible.” The Doctor breathes. “She’s human. She’s Amy and Rory’s daughter!” 

I look over at Jack, nodding to the door. He takes the hint, pulling Alya with him. 

Vastra purses her lips at the Doctor’s stubbornness. “You’ve told me about your people. They became what they did through prolonged exposure to the time vortex. The Untempered Schism.” 

“Over billions of years.” He stresses. “It didn't just happen.”

“So how close is she? Could she even regenerate?” Vastra asks. 

“No.” The Doctor answers immediately, then hesitates. “No, I don’t think so.” 

I close my eyes. “Yes.” 

“What?” The Doctor states more than asks. 

“Melody will be able to regenerate.” I reiterate, opening my eyes to see their expressions. Vastra looks unsurprised, but the Doctor is gaping at me. 

He shakes his head in disbelief. “And just how can you know that?” 

“Because I’ve met her before. Melody, I mean. And she looked nothing like she looks now.” I look the Doctor dead in the face. “Same girl, different face.” 

“I don’t understand how this is possible.” The Doctor runs a hand through his hair roughly.

“Which leads me to ask when it happened.” Vastra chimes in. 

He pauses. “When?”

“I am trying to be delicate.” Vastra rolls her eyes. “When did this baby begin?”

“If Melody was conceived in the Tardis, could that have-“

The Doctor cuts me off. “No! No! Impossible! It's all running about, sexy fish vampires and blowing up stuff. And Rory wasn't even there at the beginning. Then he was dead, then he didn't exist, then he was plastic. Then I had to reboot the whole universe. Long story. So, technically the first time they were on the Tardis together in this version of reality, was on their wed-“ He cuts himself off, eyes flickering in thought.

“On their wedding night.” I finish, the word he was about to say a clear indicator.

“It doesn’t just work that way.” The Doctor insists. “You can't just cook yourself a Time Lord.”

“Of course not.” Vastra agrees. “But you gave them one hell of a start, and they've been working very hard ever since.”

“And yet they gave in so easily. Does this not that bother anyone else?” Dorian asks. 

“Yes.” I look at Dorian. “This was way to easy. We stopped Kovarian from taking off with the real Melody but it still feels as though we are missing something.” 

“Amy. She worried the baby would have a time head. She said that-“ The Doctor trails off, looking introspective. 

“Only you would ignore the instincts of a mother.” Vastra scolds. 

“Or the instincts of a coward.” Dorian continues. “This is too easy. There's something wrong.”

“Why even do it?” The Doctor asks. “Even if you could get your hands on a brand new Time Lord, what for?”

“A weapon?” Vastra offers immediately. 

“Why would a Time Lord be a weapon?” He looks at her, confused. 

Vastra flicks her eyes between the two of us, hesitating. “Well, they’ve seen the two of you.”

The two of us. 

The Doctor sits down abruptly. 

“The both of you are right.” Vastra acknowledges. “This was too easy. We should get back to the others.”

Dorian and Vastra leave, and I go with them. The Doctor looks preoccupied with his own thoughts right now. 

He might be able to afford the luxury of time to process things, but I can’t. When Mels was in Leadworth, she was an orphan who lived with the church. She had definitely regenerated, so there was no telling when she was taken. 

The rules dictated that Melody would be taken, but I’d do my best to make sure that it didn’t happen on this day. 

I make it to the hanger just in time for a force field to surround the Tardis. 

“What’s that?” Amy asks, holding Melody to her chest. 

“A force field.” I say, before Vastra can reach out and touch it. “We need to get you out of here.”

A loud clicking noise resonates across the hangar. “And those are the doors locking.” A woman, a cleric, says to us. 

Vastra hisses. “Apparently we're not leaving.” 

A soft chanting starts. 

Rory looks around in alarm. “Is that the Monks?”

“Oh, dear God.” Dorian states. “That's the attack prayer.”

“Alright then.” I put an arm around Amy. “Let’s get you as far away this as we can.” 

“Wait.” Jack hands me a gun. “You’re going to need that.” 

I nod my thanks. Rory takes over, leading us to a section of cargo crates. 

Amy kneels down slowly, rocking Melody who’s started crying once again. Seems like she’s picking up the tension in the air. “Rory, no offence to the others, but you let them all die first, okay?”

Rory laughs. “You're so Scottish.” 

They kiss, and I respectfully avert my eyes. 

“Centurion, you’re needed!” Vastra calls. 

Nodding one last time at Amy, Rory leaves, straight backed and full of confidence. 

What ever happened to that shy little boy I watched grow up? I guess he came into his own at some point when I wasn’t paying attention. 

“Mabel.” Amy hisses. “Get down.” 

I drop down in a crouch, thumbing the safety off of the gun Jack gave me to use. 

And then it’s a waiting game. The sound of laser blasts fills the air, a counterpoint to the oppressive chanting that’s still there. 

Then everything goes silent, except for the sound of Melody crying. A sound which is going to bring everyone right to us. Rapid footsteps approach our location and I bring the gun up immediately, firing off a round as soon as a head peaks around the corner. 

“Hey!” Jack exclaims, ducking back behind the cargo container. 

“Idiot!” I scold at him, thumbing the safety back on. “I could have shot you in the head! You don’t just run up on someone with a gun like that!”

Jack pokes his head out hesitantly, reaching up to touch the thin trail of blood along his temple. “I think you did shoot me.” 

“I’m guessing we won?” Amy interrupts, frustrated. 

“The monks are down.” Jack tells her, dropping the comedy act. “But the forcefield is still up.” 

“Not for much longer.” I assure them. The Doctor is close now, I can him.

Rory comes around the corner, and the new parents share a moment of relief. Feeling as if I’m intruding a bit by staying, I leave them to it, Jack coming with me. 

I hand his gun back. Jack nods his thanks, walking over to Alya and leaving me by myself. 

Vastra comes over to me. “There’s a woman here who wants to speak with you. Her name is Lorna, she came to warn us.” 

The woman in the cleric uniform. As I approach it becomes clear to me that she’s not going to make it. I put on my best smile for her anyways. “Hello Lorna.” I kneel by her side, grabbing a hold onto her hand. 

“Mabel.” Lorna breathes. 

“That’s me.” I squeeze her hand. “You did a very brave thing, helping us. Thank you.”

“I met you once, in the Gamma Forests. The Doctor and Mabel.” She laughs once. “You don't remember me.”

“Of course I remember you.” I lie instantly. “You were younger then, and so brave.” 

Lorna smiles, just a small one, and then her chest stops moving. 

“Who was she?” The Doctor asks, placing a hand on my shoulder. 

“I don't know, but she was very brave.” Vastra states. 

“They’re always brave.” He responds, the words bitter. “They're always brave.”

They are aren’t they? I try my best to ignore Dorians head on the ground next to me, or Strax lying heavily against a cargo box a few feet away. It doesn’t work. 

I stand up abruptly, knocking the Doctor’s hand off of my shoulder. “Did we get all the information we needed from the computers here?”

“Yes. And I’ve destroyed the database, no one will be able to pull the information from it again.” The Doctor tells me. 

“Then lets go.” I lean against his shoulder, so very tired now. “Let’s gather up our wounded and dead, and just leave this place.” 

Jack claps his hands together. “Sounds like a plan to me.” 

The hangar becomes a flurry of movement, everyone gathering themselves and their things. Once the Doctor lowers the forcefield, we all bustle onto the Tardis. I busy myself with showing the different guests to rooms, thought many of them already seem to have their own rooms, while the Doctor flies us away from this horrible place. 

Once finished with that, I make my way to the kitchen where I fix two cups of tea. One sip is all it takes for it to really hit home just how different things are going to be now. My once favorite type of tea is now incredibly nasty. 

That’s how the Doctor finds me, making a face at the cup in my hands. 

He sighs, plopping himself down into the chair next to me. “What has that tea ever done to you?”

“It’s nasty.” I complain, a pout pulling at the edges of my face. 

“Different mouth, different rules.” The Doctor comments, taking a long sip from his own cup of tea. 

Different mouth, and different hands, and different hair. It hadn’t really sunk in yet. Everything was different now. 

The Doctor breaks me out of my thoughts by tapping me on the hand. “Your emotions are swirling dear. Penny for your thoughts?” 

I frown, shaking my head. “I honestly don’t know. Just a lot to process.” 

He nods, like he understands. And of course he does. The Doctor has changed his body countless times before. “All it takes is time.”

Time huh? I suppose I really do have all the time now don’t I. It had never truly sunk in before, the fact that I would properly regenerate. It’s like something that you see on the television over and over again. It becomes fact, but then it happens to you and suddenly it’s a while lot different than you thought it would be. 

In another life, this would have been enough to terrify me. But now? I was just annoyed with my previous self for having those thoughts in the first place. 

All of this raises another question though, if my own feelings about my own self image have changed so much with regeneration, what else have my feelings changed about? I turn the remnants of my attention to the Doctor. 

To his credit, he doesn’t even ask me what I’m doing, just sits there. Sipping his tea and looking so very handsome. 

….

Well I guess that answers that question. 

The butterflies have long since faded when it comes to this Doctor, time will temper every crush I guess, but the warmth and stirrings of devotion which have become common remain the same. 

It occurs to me suddenly that love for people who live as long as the two of us do must be very different from everything that I’ve ever seen in movies or the like. Something that I’ve heard the Doctor say to Clara far in the future from this moment comes to mind. 

I place a kiss to his palm, smiling at the sappy look it produces. That’s exactly it. ‘Love is not an emotion, it’s a promise.’ And I finally understand exactly what that means. 

Every relationship has it’s up and downs, every relationship has hardship. But you make a promise to someone when you love them, or you should. My bones themselves ache under the pressure of my promise, I love the Doctor. 

It’s like this regeneration has written that promise on every cell. 

The Doctor sways forward, his eyes dark. “I can tell you know?” He reaches out with the other hand, finger brushing across my cheek. “Your whole body is tuned to me now.” 

The blush is involuntary, spreading across my cheeks and heating its way down my chest. 

“But you know something else?” The Doctor continues, eyes following the color, even as he pulls back to gesture at himself. “This body has been tuned to you too. Just like the body before that.”

Like in the console room. How the both of us were so easily able to rile the other up with only a couple of kisses. 

There isn’t much I can say in response to that, so I fall back on something that’s grown into a habit. “You are such a sap.” 

The Doctor smiles, expression kind, and ever so mischievous. Like he knows something that I don’t. “Of course I am.” 

Before I can call him out on it, he uses the grip he has on my hand to tug me into a standing position. “Come on now, you’re about to crash. It’s best to get you to a bed first.” 

“What do you mean I’m about to crash?” I ask him, frowning over my shoulder at the cups of tea sitting on the table. I had wanted to find something to drink that I liked at least. 

“We’ll have a taste test later.” The Doctor states, still tugging me along the hallway. “And I mean you’re going to crash. The only thing that had been keeping you on your feet was the adrenaline from earlier. It’s best to rest a bit after regeneration, to let it settle. But-“ 

I raise an eyebrow at his sheepish expression. “But what?” 

The Doctor’s free hand comes up to scratch at the back of his head. “Well, neither of us seem to get that downtime after our regenerations, that’s all.” 

Spoilers Doctor. Jeeze. “And I still don’t think I’ll be crashing, I don’t feel tired at all.” 

Though my legs are getting a bit wobbily, come to think of it. And I’d repressed that yawn a couple of times. The Doctor sends me a knowing look. I willfully ignore it. 

In the end though, my protests don’t do anything to change his mind about the matter. He has me showered, pajama’d and in bed faster than I can process. 

And then it’s time for sleep. 

He was right, damn him. Between the time it takes to close my eyes and set my head on the pillow I’m out. 

And If I have any dreams at all, the only impression that is left behind is swirling stars and brilliant supernovas as the Tardis drifts in space. Because that’s how the story goes. A box and the stars. Next stop everywhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are everyone. 
> 
> The end of a chapter, and the end of this book. Thank you to everyone who stuck with me while I was figuring out this story, and everyone who ignored my horrible grammar and stilted sentence structure while I figured how to write in a creative capacity once more. (I still have stilted sentence and horrible grammar but at least re-reading these later chapters doesn’t make me cringe.) At some point I’d like to go back and edit the earlier chapters, but that will be a project for another day. 
> 
> Thank you, everyone of you that left a comment, or a like, or a personal message. To everyone who favorited, and followed. Everyone of these things encouraged me to write more, and to continue even when I hit a road block. 
> 
> On another note, this isn’t the end of the story. I have several different ‘books’ planned out for the future. So if you enjoyed this story keep your eyes peeled for the first chapter of the next book. (Coming at some point in the future) I’ll also post a brief author’s note on this story when I finally post the next book so those who followed this story can know to head over to the new one if they are still interested. 
> 
> To those of you wondering when the next chapter of Tilted is coming out, I can only say sometime soon. I’ve been putting a little bit into it everyday. 
> 
> Have a fantastic day! 
> 
> ~RainingCoffee


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